A/N: This is the second to last chapter, just FYI… we've jumped forwards to May time-wise.

She couldn't tear her eyes away from the view through the small, oval window, as the final wisps of cloud dispersed and the coast of the island sharpened each moment as the plane dropped lower and lower. Soon she could make out distinct buildings as they banked left, turning inland as they neared the end of their flight.

"You ok?" Emma murmured, chin resting on Regina's shoulder as she too gazes down onto Puerto Rico. Beside them, a coastal highway wound its way around the edge of the beach, tiny dots of colour denoting the vehicles travelling to and from the city.

"Yeah, just, you know, it's a lot."

Emma's lips pressed against the bare skin of her shoulder. "I know. But you're not alone, remember?"

"Thank you."

She knew she wasn't alone. Physically, at least. Emma was there, by her side, as she had been for over nine months now. And emotionally, of course, Emma was there for her. But there were things, experiences, feelings to which Emma just couldn't relate. Or couldn't help Regina deal with. She was alone when it came to those, and always would be, no matter how much Emma wanted to be her support. When it came to her family, to her past, there was only so much Emma could offer.

It wasn't a complaint of Emma, far from it. The blonde had been her rock, her north star. She couldn't imagine how she could possibly have survived her time after Killian without Emma. Or even if there would have been a time after Killian had it not been for Emma. But that didn't mean that Emma could fix everything, could be there for Emma when it came to some of the emotions which Regina was experiencing right in that moment as the plane bumped gently onto the tarmac at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport.

Ten minutes later, they were filing into the terminal and making their way through passport control and into baggage reclaim. Regina's passport had been recovered by the police during a search of Killian's office and returned to her. As they waited for their suitcases to make their slow journey to them on the conveyor belt, Emma watched out of the corner of her eye as Regina fidgeted.

"Are you ok?" She asked for what felt like the tenth time since they'd left their house, over eleven hours earlier.

"Yep."

"You sure you don't need a little …" She tailed off.

Regina took her eyes off the rotating luggage for a moment. "A little what?"

"Methadone," Emma finished.

A slight frown creased Regina's forehead. "I'm not due for a dose." She had taken her usual amount in Heathrow that morning, while they waited in the departure area. They'd already worked out the impact the time difference would make on their routine, and accommodated that by shifting her daily dose a little earlier each day. Over the months, they had also been very slowly and carefully reducing the amount, but she still took fifteen millilitres a day.

"Emma, I'm nervous about seeing my parents again for the first time in over two years. I'm nervous about telling them about you, about coming out to them. But I'm not about to stick a needle in my arm and shoot up, ok?"

Taken aback, Emma couldn't help but let out a little laugh at the verbiage her girlfriend had chosen. After a moment, Regina chuckled too and looped her arm through Emma's. "You're sweet to be worried but that's in my past now, ok? I'm not going to turn to drugs when I'm stressed any more and I don't need extra Methadone to deal with stressful situations."

"What do you need?"

"Just you," Regina replied, placing a featherlike kiss to the line of Emma's jaw. "I'm nervous but I'd be a lot more nervous if you weren't here."

"I wouldn't be anywhere else," Emma promised, leaning towards her girlfriend for a kiss.

But at that exact moment, Regina spotted her luggage appearing and hurried over to the conveyor belt to haul her bag off, with Emma grabbing her own moments later.

"Ready?" Emma asked as she placed both bags on the trolley and pointed it in the direction of customs and the arrivals hall.

"Ready," Regina nodded, setting off beside her girlfriend.

Arrivals was busy, families and friends greeting one another as they were reunited after indeterminate lengths of time. Regina scanned the crowd, the nerves suddenly transforming into excitement at the realisation that she really was about to see her mother and father again, to hug and kiss them and be back in their arms, their home. They spotted her before she picked them out and by the time she saw them, her father was waving furiously and her mother was in tears.

"There they are," she pointed out to Emma who had only seen a few photos of the older Mills' and who followed Regina's finger eagerly.

"Go, I'll follow you," Emma said as she saw that the brunette's parents were now making their way towards their daughter.

Regina flashed a smile before turning and running the short distance into two pairs of outstretched arms. Enveloped by both of them, Regina buried her face into her father's shirt as she felt her body convulse with tears. "Mamá, Pappy," she cried, feeling her parents hug her even harder, their own sobs shaking their bodies too.

Emma hung back, not wanting to intrude. Plus she didn't think a fourth person crying was going to help matters. The sight of her girlfriend being reunited with her family had made Emma's heart clench with happiness. Whatever happened when they eventually learned about their daughter's sexuality, the trip had been worth it for this moment. Not that Regina was inordinately worried about their reaction. She had told Emma that she imagined them to be surprised but accepting. But Emma knew that sometimes people reacted unexpectedly to their children's sexuality, and not always in a good way.

"You've come home," Cora said as she finally pulled back, cupping her daughter's face in her hands. "And you're skinny. I've made empanadillas. They're in the car, so you can eat them on the way back home."

"Thanks Mamá," Regina grinned, swiping at her tears.

"Let me take your bags, princess," Henry offered, looking past Regina for the first time and nodding at Emma with a smile.

"Right, of course. Mamá, Pappy, I want you to meet Emma," Regina said, turning to the blonde who was standing to one side. "Emma, meet Cora and Henry Mills."

"Hi," Emma said with a wave, before pushing their trolly a little closer. "It's so wonderful to finally meet you. Regina had told me so much about you both. I'm sorry I don't speak Spanish though."

Henry gestured for himself to take over manoeuvring the luggage while Cora batted away Emma's apology about the language. "It's a good opportunity for us to practice our English, right dear?"

"Absolutely and the Queen's English, too, not American English. You must correct me if I make mistakes," he added, with a solemn nod towards Emma.

"I will do but your English is incredible," she replied as they left the airport terminal and made their way to the car park. "And thank you for having me to stay too. I really appreciate it."

"Of course, Regina told us what you did for her. We … we're eternally grateful," Cora said thickly. "We owe you a debt we could never repay."

The conversation was leading towards a topic which deserved a better venue than an airport car park, so Regina changed the subject, explaining to Emma that her parents lived about an hour outside of San Juan and that their village had hosted a little welcome back party for her, and a welcome party for Emma the following night.

Already excited to see the country in which Regina had been born and raised, Emma spent most of the journey looking out of the window, every now and then asking questions and getting a potted history of the island. For the most part, Regina talked about her job at the British Library, filling her parents on what had happened during the first four months of her employment and how she was already being talked about for a promotion.

By the time they turned onto a dusty dirt track which wound its way through banana and mango trees, Emma was feeling the effects of her jet lag but eager to see Regina's childhood home.

"Here we are," Henry announced, the car rolling to a stop beneath a mesh canopy which gave the car protection from the heat of the day.

Emma climbed out and looked around. The established garden was bursting with colour and fruit. She realised she was starving, despite having eaten several empanadillas on the journey. She would have eaten more but she knew they were Regina's favourite and she was also sure that Cora had stacks more at home. It sounded like the woman had been cooking for weeks to prepare for the return of her daughter. Ever since Regina had called to confirm their flights, the brunette's mother had texted most days asking questions related to their trip. What did Regina want to eat? Where did Regina want to go? Who did Regina want to visit? How possible would it be for Regina to bring back some jubilee memorabilia back?

And now they were here. Regina was home. Emma was at Regina's childhood home. The property itself was smaller than the private driveway and large gardens suggested. It was a modest, single storey building but neat and solidly built. Henry flapped away Emma's attempts to help him unload their bags and instead followed Regina and Cora inside.

"Give Emma the tour while I put dinner together," Cora offered.

"We'll help. It'll only take a few minutes," Regina replied, pointing to the one door off the kitchen which led down a long corridor. "So, kitchen's here."

"I got that," Emma teased.

Regina rolled her eyes. "We spend most of our time here but the living room is through there." She pointed and paused at the first door off the hallway. "It's south facing and gets too hot to be comfortable to hang out in but it has amazing views."

"Wow, understatement," Emma said, gawking at the huge glass wall which looked onto the garden and then to the mountains beyond.

"Yeah, I know, it's gorgeous but the glass basically makes it into a greenhouse. It's nice early in the morning though."

The tour continued with Regina pointing out the property's one bathroom, plus the guest room and her parents' room. "And this is my room."

Emma bounded eagerly inside the final room, looking around to take in the space where Regina had spent her formative years. It was neat and tidy and depressingly void of embarrassing childhood photos. Regina smirked at Emma's disappointed expression as she realised that she wasn't going to find anything incriminating.

"Maybe I was just too cool for dumb teenage stuff," Regina teased, sauntering over and wrapping her arms around Emma's waist.

"You were a bookworm. Is that cool?" She nodded at the groaning shelves which lined one wall, stuffed with what must have been hundreds of books.

"You think it's cool that I read," Regina reasoned.

"Fair, I do," Emma conceded, kissing Regina quickly before stepping out of the embrace. At Regina's confused look, the blonde nodded towards the open door. "I don't want your parents to walk in on us."

"We're not naked or doing anything inappropriate," Regina pointed out, keeping her voice low.

"I know but they don't know yet. I'd rather they heard it from you than walked in on us, that's all. But no pressure, you can tell when you're ready. I know this is big."

"I'll tell them soon. I want to tell them. And they already like you. You made my dad laugh loads in the car. That's a good sign."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, and my mum was asking you all those questions about being a nurse. They're interested in you, they want to know about your life. Plus, you know, you saved my life."

"That doesn't mean they're going to be ok with me having sex with you."

"Well, that wasn't exactly how I was going to frame our relationship, to be fair."

Emma nodded sagely. "Fair point. Ok, I can see how perhaps not jumping straight to what we do in bed would be a good strategy."

"You're nervous," Regina remarked, stepping back into Emma's personal space and bringing her arms up to loop over the older woman's shoulders. "Don't be nervous. They love me, and they're going to love you, because I love you, ok?"

"Ok," Emma whispered, meeting Regina's lips in a kiss which lasted only a couple of seconds before the sound of Henry heaving their luggage down the corridor forced them apart.

"Emma, I put your suitcase in the guest room," Henry said as he appeared in the doorway.

After a moment, Emma grinned. "Right, great, of course, thank you."

"Actually, Pappy -"

"Shall we go and help Cora?" Emma interrupted, not wanting Regina to have to come out because of a presumed sleeping arrangement.

"I think she's got everything under control but I'm sure she'd be happy to have help," Henry said, as he put Regina's bag down on the edge of the mattress.

Emma practically bolted from the room. Regina couldn't help but smile slightly. She wasn't sure why Emma was suddenly the nervous one. The apprehension she had felt on the plane had disappeared the moment she felt her parents' arms around her. Perhaps it had transferred itself to Emma. But something told Regina they had nothing to worry about. In fact, she wanted to tell her parents right in that moment. Emma was a big, important part of her life and she didn't want to hide it. Plus, there were many other subjects which they'd have to address over the ten days the two of them would be visiting. She didn't want her sexuality to become a conversation related to what had happened with Killian. Telling them now seemed like the right choice.

"Pappy, are you coming?"

"Right behind you, Princess," Henry nodded, following his daughter from the room.

In the kitchen, Emma was already helping Cora, carrying platters piled high with food from the side to the long dining table.

"Mamá, Pappy, there's something I need to tell you."

Emma looked up sharply, eyes seeking Regina's. The slightest nod of her head confirmed to the blonde that she was indeed about to tell her parents about them.

"What is it, my dear?" Cora asked, paused in the motion of spooning a rice dish out of a saucepan and into a serving bowl.

"I … um …" the words faltered. The certainty and the surety she had felt moments earlier fell away. Her breath caught.

"Regina, maybe now's not the time?" Emma offered, sensing the woman's hesitation.

"No, I want to," Regina said, shaking her head.

Cora had put down the pan now and Henry reached out to touch his daughter's shoulder. "Princess, is everything ok? Is it something about," now it was his turn to pause. Emma saw him swallow thickly, "that man?"

"No," Regina said sharply. "Nothing about him. It's about me. And Emma."

Emma felt rather than saw both older Mills' looking at her. But she didn't dare move her gaze from Regina's bright brown orbs which were fixed on her own.

"Emma and I are together," Regina said in a rush.

"Romantically together," the brunette added.

"She's my girlfriend," came the third clarifier when still no one said anything.

Emma couldn't say anything into the silence. But Regina didn't seem to be able to stop.

"I'm her girlfriend. I'm gay. Or a lesbian."

At this, Regina walked over to Emma and placed her hand on Emma's which was resting on the back of a dining chair. "I love Emma," she said quietly. "And Emma loves me. She saved me, rescued me and then I fell for her. We've been together since August."

The room was motionless now, thick with anticipation. Emma's fingers beneath Regina's tightened their grip on the chair. She could faint feel the brunette tremors as she waited for her parents to say something, to react, to give even an indication that they had heard their daughter.

"Mamá? Pappy?"

A/N: There is one chapter left…