AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi guys, knownprincess here! Thanks for reading this story and reviewing it! I have an idea of how I want this to end but I am also taking prompts and ideas for future chapters. You can either review it or PM me and I will try my hardest to incorporate your idea into a chapter. Also, sorry the end of this is quite rushed, I'm currently working two jobs and attending college full time and it's all a bit much but couldn't help thinking of this idea.

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Chapter 7.

Six months had passed with Regina successfully keeping her sexuality a secret by mostly avoiding her mother whenever possible. Regina had gone into her second year of law school, but it was mostly online, meaning that she could still watch Henry a couple times a week. She had also started casually hanging out with Emma after she finished work. Emma liked to have a cold beer and talk about all kinds of pressing issues, her son being one of them, while Regina preferred to sit with a coke and happily discuss whatever topic was brought up.
One night however, Emma went slightly overboard, drinking four or five beers which was enough to render the blonde hopelessly drunk and quite giggly. Regina couldn't help but smile at her comfort; she could never get drunk so casually.

"What are you hiding Regina?" Emma asked, her voice not quite slurred yet but not far from it

"I'm not hiding anything from you Emma, I promise" Regina replied, hoping she wasn't blushing.

"Yeah you are, I can tell. But it's okay, you can have your secrets. I don't mind" Emma laughed, and Regina forced herself to laugh as well.

"We all have our own little secrets, don't we Regina? What do you think about secrets?" Emma asked, pulling at her hair elastic and letting her wild curls fly freely.

"I think… I think that secrets are sometimes best kept buried but can also be cathartic. I think secrets are needed sometimes but sometimes they can destroy you." Regina replied, careful of her wording.

"I don't understand you Regina, sometimes you turn into the most serious person I've ever met, but other times you act like you're so carefree. What's your secret?" Emma bantered, not seeing how quickly Regina shrunk inside herself.

"I don't have a secret, at least nothing worth mentioning." Regina said firmly, hoping that Emma would move the subject on, but she didn't.

"Yeah, you do, Regina, I can see it written across your face. But that's okay, you can keep your secret. Has my son told you any of mine?" Emma asked, fetching another beer for herself and a fresh soda for her companion who took it gratefully and swigged straight from the can.

"Henry? No, not that I remember. You're really lucky Emma, he idolises you. He's such a lovely kid." Regina replied switching the subject and breathing a sigh of relief that the inquisition was finally over for her.

"He's a good kid, and you're right, I am so very lucky to have him. Considering that he wasn't exactly planned, and for a while I considered giving him away to someone else. He's not a bit like any other kid, he's just mine" Emma smiled, pulling a blanket around her shoulders.

"You… wanted to give him away?" Regina asked faintly, unsure if she had truly heard what she thought she had heard.

"I was seventeen Regina, I was young, and scared, and desperate. I couldn't… do the other thing, I just couldn't face it, so I planned to give him away. I was in the middle of picking families, but none seemed right, and then he kicked me, for the first time ever, he kicked me. It felt almost like he was saying 'don't give up on me yet, Mama' and I decided that day that I would keep him. We've been inseparable ever since" Emma said without a hint of embarrassment.

"You were only 17 when you found out you were pregnant? Gods Emma, I couldn't imagine going through all that when you were really still a kid yourself. I salute you for that" Regina whispered; her voice crackly with repressed emotion that she prayed wouldn't burst out.

"So, you've heard my sorry tale, let me hear yours. What makes the daughter of Cora Mills, a wealthy Heiress spend her evenings with a down-on-her-luck single mother and her son? You don't have a secret? Tell me about you then" Emma asked, throwing Regina a bag of chips and picking up her biscuit tin.

"There really isn't much to tell Emma, Mother sent me away to school when I was five or six, but I preferred being away from her, I missed my father so much. He passed away when I was almost five and I still miss him a lot, but I like to think that I've made him proud of me by working hard and getting into Law school. He left me my inheritance for that very purpose. I have my sister, Zelena, and her family including her son Robbie now, and I'm happy to watch Henry whenever you need me to. I love being with him. He's so smart and curious and polite… I'd love to have a son like him one day." Regina said in rush, really hoping that Emma would leave her alone now. But Emma was wise to her tricks by now.

"Regina, I can tell that something is eating you up on the inside. Please don't feel the need to hide anything from me, I don't judge at all. My parents already adore you for being kind enough to watch over my son and keep him happy while I work a dead-end job to scrape together enough money to keep the roof over our heads. My mother loves you! And… and I love you too" Emma said, her cheeks suddenly flushing red with embarrassment.

"You… you have a crush on…me?" Regina asked faintly, her heart hammering.

"No, I don't have a crush on you Regina, I love you. I love everything about you. I love the way that your hair is long and soft and how it frames your face. I love that you have such interesting eyes. I love the way your lips are just perfect. I even love the scar on your top lip, it makes you even more beautiful because you think you are broken when actually I think you are perfect. I love the way you dress, casual but still shows off your amazing figure. I love that you wear odd socks from time to time like me. I love you so much Regina. And I don't care if you don't feel the same, I have loved you from the moment you stepped through my door almost seven months ago." Emma whispered, tears flowing down her face, showing her soft vulnerability, a side that Regina had never seen until now.

Regina opened her mouth to respond but Emma jumped to her feet and ran into her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her. She sank down to her knees on the other side of the closed door and finally let her tears fall freely. She had been holding in these feelings for months and now she had to wait for Regina to reject her. How could she ever have a chance with Regina Mills? Regina Fucking Mills?!

"Emma?" Regina knocked timidly at the door but Emma didn't answer.

"Emma, you're right. I am hiding. I… I better go. You can text me if you want to, I'll answer" Regina whispered, and after a few minutes, Emma heard Regina's spare key turn in the lock and the front door shut quietly. A further five minutes and Emma heard the purr of Regina's car as she drove home.

Emma picked up her phone and dialled her mother who answered on the first ring.

"Hey Em, everything okay? It's quite late" her mother said cheerily

"Mama? Can you come over please?" Emma asked, her voice wobbly and she sounded so upset that her mother agreed immediately. Ten minutes later, the two women were sitting side by side on the couch and Emma relayed the whole evenings events to her mother.

"Mama, I told her that I love her. How could I be so fucking stupid? I have fallen for my son's babysitter! she told me to message her, but I can't mama, I don't think I can handle another rejection, I just know she will turn around and say that she's straight or if by some miracle, she isn't straight, she won't want someone like me. A dropout single mother who works in a dead-end job for shitty pay when she's an heiress and makes money when she sleeps. I don't think I have a chance at all" Emma wept, while her mother listened and soothed her.

"Emma, honey slow down! First off, I don't think Regina will reject you in any way, she might well be straight, but she won't totally reject you. She just might not be attracted to you and that's totally fine. She won't hurt you, hate you, do anything to harm you, she just might not be into girls. You aren't stupid baby girl; you can't help your feelings and I'm sure that Regina will understand that. And you are not just a dropout single mother, you are an incredibly smart girl who fell pregnant and made the best of it. Emma, you have worked incredibly hard to get to where you are now, and you have only yourself to praise. You raised your son independently while working two or three jobs and running a home. You should be damn proud of yourself! Your father and I are prouder of you than you know" Mary said, wrapping her grown-up daughter in a hug and allowing her to sob into her shoulder.

"Mama, I can't help how I feel about Regina. I look forward to working late because it means we can sit here and talk about anything. I just want to prove to Regina that someone does love her." Emma admitted sheepishly.

"So, prove it to her then darling. Now come on, let's get you into bed. I'm staying over and I'll get Henry ready for school in the morning. You work out what you're going to say to Regina." Mary said as she pulled Emma to her feet, and they walked hand in hand to Emma's room and settled for the night.

Meanwhile, Regina awash in her own tears, drove to Zelena's house, driving as quickly as she possibly could. She was not in the mood to face her mother tonight because her mother had now taken to listening at keyholes and spying on her when she was speaking to her sister or her few friends.
Wiping away her tears, Regina pulled into her sister's driveway and flew towards the door, hammering and shouting until her sister appeared, clad in her green bathrobe and darker green nightwear and slippers, a look of sheer terror and bewilderment on her face but after realising it was her sister, Regina was ushered inside, and Zelena pulled her into a hug.

"Regina what's happened? Is it mother? Has she hurt you?" Zelena asked frantically, her cell phone in her hand

"No, no it isn't mother. Zelena, something has happened, and I couldn't go home. Can I crash here tonight?" Regina asked, her voice shaking, and her face still marred by tears.

"Of course, you can, next time though, please call me! You scared me half to death! Robin is out on an urgent call and Robyn is with his friend Marian so I could get a few nights of decent sleep. Do you want to text mother and tell her where you are? I'll make some tea and we can talk about this" Zelena offered, and Regina nodded, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves.

After leaving her mother a voicemail message assuring her that she was okay and was crashing at her sister's place, Regina walked into the kitchen where Zelena was waiting with her tea and some biscuits.

"So what's happened?" Zelena asked and Regina sighed heavily.

"It's Emma and Henry"

"I gathered it was something to do with this famous Mother and Son duo. Have you and Emma fallen out?"

"No, the total opposite. Oh Zel, Emma told me that she loves me! She and I were talking after her shift, she was drinking a beer like usual, but she must've had too many because she was quite drunk. She asked me what I was hiding, and I told her I wasn't hiding anything. Then she started talking about Henry and how she was so young and has struggled so much. She told me that her parents love me, and she admitted that she loves me too. Not like a schoolgirl crush, she listed off all the things about me that she loves and how I make her feel but this made her worse because she doesn't think I feel the same even though I do! Zelena, I love her! I've been dodging around this for months, but I do! I love her! But I left before I could tell her that I love her because we were frightened of each other's reactions. And now I'm too scared to ever see her again!" Regina wept freely while her sister rubbed her back gently and encouraged her to keep talking until Regina stopped sobbing.

"Regina, you can't help who you love, and I've told you that before. Emma loves you for who you are and how well you get along with her son. Regina, she loves you because you're you. She loves you because you saw through the class divide and offered her some hope and a chance to climb up a ladder to a better life. She loves you because you are incredibly pretty, and you aren't the same as any other girls. You're both damaged, you're both different and you're both beautifully imperfect and that's why you have both gravitated towards each other. Have you told her anything?" Zelena replied, feeling her sister sag against her in relief

"No, I said she could text me but she hasn't. should I text her?" Regina said, dabbing at her face with some paper towels.

"Why not?"

So Regina spent the next hour composing a long, loving text message.

"Emma.

Firstly I want to tell you to not panic, I'm not asking you to find another babysitter or telling you that I never want to see you again, quite the opposite. Also, I'm completely safe so please don't worry about that.

You told me tonight that you love me and that has given me the courage to admit something to you that I haven't even told my mother. Emma, I'm gay.
my mother is homophobic and can be quite… difficult at times so I haven't told her but my sister and her family know and they love and support me no matter what.

Emma, the reason why I left tonight the way I did was because after you admitted your feelings for me, I was too frightened to admit that I have feelings for you as well. I love your hair and the way that it curls and the shine it has. I love your eyes because they're like slivers of green glass that sparkle when you're happy. I love the light dusting of freckles across your cheeks and I love your glasses because I think they make you look even more beautiful. I love your sense of style and how you don't care what everyone else thinks about you and that makes me love you even more; you don't worry about judgment from people that you consider unimportant. I love your red jacket and your Dr Marten boots because they belong to you and you alone. Emma, I love you and I have done for a while. You are the thing that I think about constantly and the way that you laugh makes me smile.

I love you Emma Swan Nolan, I always have.

With all my love,
Regina xxxx"

It took Regina a further ten minutes to actually press send and she then fought the urge to turn her phone off because she feared Emma's reply.

SQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQSQ

Ching Ching

Emma's mobile alerted her to a new text message from 3REGINA3 and Emma spent the next ten minutes reading the long text message that Regina had just sent her. Here was Regina Fucking Mills admitting to Emma Swan that she was in love with her.

She had to be kidding… this was some kind of sick joke. There was absolutely no way that Regina actually had reciprocated feelings for Emma.

"Are you being serious" Emma texted back

Five minutes later, Regina answered
"Deadly serious. How do we move on from here? I've never dated anyone before so I'm not sure of the etiquette"

"can you stay later next time you're getting Henry from school and we can get some food and talk? Call it a test-date?" Emma replied

Regina sent back a thumbs up emoji and Emma felt fairly content with the fact that she had fallen for her son's babysitter.