So 22/06 I found out I got a 2:1 in my law degree. That's pretty good, but I was 0.75% off a first, the highest grade I could have got and therefore I am pissed. I worked so damn hard for three years and now I am so close but so far that I just don't see it was worth it. So. I write.

02/07 – sorry this is so late, been busy trying to write a personal statement for my masters application. I am too behind and I have no ideas, but I had most of this chapter written like two weeks ago. I decided to stay up a while and finish binge-watching OITNB (3 episodes left) and then see how it goes. Technically I finished this on the third, as I have only the finale left and it is SO SHORT but idc I am so tired and so behind and so.


April 14th 2017

Regina had cried when Emma had announced her tumour was benign, and then again when Emma explained that she would still need to have surgery to remove it and then all would be fine. If Whale was correct, her seizures would stop, and her magic might even come back.

They'd celebrated that night, going to the only nice restaurant in Storybrooke. Emma had assumed that it was just herself and girlfriend, yet was very pleasantly surprised when she arrived to find Henry and her parents waiting for them. They'd eaten and talked and the five of them had split up, Snow and David taking Henry out for ice cream, while Emma and Regina went home. They'd celebrated into the early hours of the morning, before deciding to sleep the few hours before work.

Emma had returned to the station but had been doing small tasks, mostly paperwork and no patrols the next week, as she couldn't risk having a seizure while chasing criminals. Regina had gone into the office every day on time, had taken lunch to Emma, usually homemade and then worked until early evening. The surgery to remove the tumour had been booked for the following Monday and Regina had booked a week off from that date to be there with her, and then through her recovery.

By the Friday evening, the family of three were sat around the dinner table, playing an intense game of monopoly. Emma and Henry were drinking hot chocolate and Regina was drinking hot apple cider and they were eating Regina's newest recipe, spiced toffee apple cake. Henry was going to spend the weekend with Nicholas and Ava, and then spend a few days after Emma's surgery with Gold and Belle, the young woman having convinced her husband to open his house to his grandson while the sheriff was recovering.

They had spent most of the week ignoring the elephant in the room of the next Monday. They'd planned a busy weekend, wanting to avoid thinking about a dangerous surgery with potentially serious effects. They'd briefly explained to Henry what was going to happen, and the recovery period, somehow dodging his questions about risks and side effects and 'what ifs'. That night, the couple sat together atop the duvet, Regina panic-searching the internet, while Emma tried to focus on the book she was reading. She felt Regina's fingers stroking through her hair and turned her head to face her girlfriend.

"Gina. I need to know before all this happens…" She closed the laptop slowly, waiting for the brunette to move her fingers out of the way. "We know the risks, and no, I am not doing this because I am scared. I am doing this because we both want to, and I don't want to go into this without doing this, so…. Be my wife Gina?"