A/N: GUYS! This is the second-to-last chapter, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?! I'm honestly not ready for this experience to end. I'm going to miss you all so much. To thank you all for your overwhelming, empowering support, I'm happy to say that FINALLY we get to see some smut at the end of the chapter! If that is not your thing, you can just skip that part, as it isn't directly fundamental to the plot. Enjoy, you wonderful humans! I love you!

CHAPTER 25 – Emma – Come

Before we could tear our eyes away from the spot where silver speckles had teleported the two gods away, we heard very familiar and very panicked voices overlap as they called our names from somewhere behind us. One of them, however, seemed to stand out from the other two, agitated and clearly worn out.

"Moms!" Regina and I turned around just in time to catch Henry as he very much threw himself at us, engulfing us in the most bone-crushing hug he ever offered us.

I squeezed the two most important people in my life back with just as much intensity, feeling two other sets of arms join in not too long after. I cried freely, tried by the intense confrontation with three gods, not to mention the near-death experience that had me almost lose the four people pressed tightly against me; the lightness I felt now in my chest was a relief so deep that I couldn't possibly hold back the tears of emotional weariness. I distinctly felt, thanks to our special bond, Regina's fear, which had kept her on edge during the past few hours, completely vanish, leaving a dull calm that felt almost foreign to both her and me.

I'm not sure how long we stayed like that, with my forehead pressed against Regina's, one of my hands cradling Henry's head that rested against my chest as he clutched handfuls of Regina's coat as if he never wanted to let go, all three encircled by my parents' arms. It was only after my mom's sobs had quietened and my cheeks had dried that we started detangling, although I slipped a hand in Regina's, still not quite ready to let go of her completely. She leaned into me as we finally faced the rest of our family and steeled ourselves for the myriad of question we knew were about to be thrown at us.

However, "How about we go get some lunch?" dad asked, taking everyone by surprise.

Mom looked up at him, her eyebrows raised up, and let out, "Yes, that might be a good idea."

And so we took off, Regina and I clinging onto each other and our son, mom and dad leading the way a few steps ahead. Which didn't make any sense, considering they had never been to New York before, and when I pointed it out we all erupted in light laughs that dispersed the thick, worry-filled tension that had been surrounding us up until then.

"Ma, we should go to Pinocchio's. Seems only fitting." Henry winked as he suggested the same restaurant I used to take him to for special occasions during our year in New York. Besides, the name did actually fit the situation, considering we were literally fairytale characters.

With some difficulty (the streets of New York were always constantly busy, even on Christmas Eve) we all managed to cross the street, and everyone followed as I led them towards the restaurant.

"I've eaten there as well, once. The food is quite acceptable," Regina informed us, strolling confidently beside me, by now accustomed to the intricate maze of streets that was The City.

"Hey mom, where did you live when you were here?" Henry inquired.

"Well, I used to have an apartment in the Upper West Side, but..." She hesitated, glancing at me to know whether she should go on or keep the information to herself. I nodded encouragingly. "Yesterday I moved out of there, because I didn't want your mother to find me. Now I have a flat here… And Emma says it's the same place you two used to live in."

Henry's eyes lit up with excitement. "That's so cool! It can't be a coincidence, of course. It must be, I don't know, Fate or something…"

I chuckled lightly as I ruffled his hair. "I don't know about that, kid. Maybe it was just a case."

"We're here," Regina intervened, finally seeing the restaurant.

"Finally. I swear I'm starving."

I smirked at Regina's eye roll, and the five of us entered the place and asked for a table.

"Alright," mom said, once we were settled in a secluded corner of the dining room, away from potential eavesdroppers, "now you can tell us what the hell is going on."

And so Regina started her narration, revealing her voluntary sterility and Aphrodite's consequent thirst for revenge; with a few sporadic interventions by me, she talked about the jewelry box and Eros and Anteros, leaving out the most intimate details about the crystals and about our relationship in general. It was enough that I knew all about my mother's sex life before the curse broke; there was no need to return the favor.

My parents and Henry made comments and asked a few question throughout the whole story, and even after our food had arrived we kept talking.

"Wait, but that doesn't explain Gold's actions," dad pointed out through a mouthful of pumpkin ravioli after Regina had wrapped up her account. "I mean, we know he wanted the jewelry box and he ordered Snow to rummage through Emma's room to find it, but it doesn't add up… Why would he want it?"

A small gasp from my right had me turn towards Regina, whose eyes were lit up in realization: she had come to the right conclusion before us. "He didn't want our jewelry box!" she exclaimed. "Emma, remember what Eros and Anteros said earlier? There are two jewelry boxes, physically identical except for the writing on the bottom; one made to help to heal broken hearts, the other to restore waned loves. Belle is no longer in love with Gold! He wanted the other chest, but he couldn't possibly know which one we had, hence why he tried to take it from us!"

"He wanted the other jewelry box! He was trying to find a way to get Belle to love him again!" I felt excitement bubble up inside me and I beamed at Regina. Then a thought hit me and my grin faltered. "But why pulling the stunt of stabbing you? That couldn't have possibly led him to the box…"

"Actually…" I stared in wonder as a deep blush rose from Regina's chest and up to her cheeks. "I, uh… I confronted him before leaving Storybrooke, about the fact that he wanted to hurt you…"

I sighed deeply, shaking my head in exasperation – although I did nothing to hide my amusement and the fondness her protective action had aroused in me. "Regina, what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," she stated firmly. "I may have sent him flying backwards a couple feet, but it was really not a big deal. Anyway, he said he had been trying to do me a favor."

"What? Does he think we still hate each other and you still want me dead? After all we've been through?"

Regina shook her head. "No, not at all. He said that the fact that I was ready to sacrifice myself in order to save you triggered something in you – something that had you admit to your feelings for me, which resulted in us breaking the curse. Had he not controlled Snow so that she would stab you, it would have taken us much longer… So, I imagine he wanted us to break the curse, for some reason."

"Maybe he just needed you back. Maybe he needs your experience for something," mom suggested.

"Everything I know about magic I learned from him," Regina retorted. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "This doesn't make any sense…"

"Hey," I said as I placed a hand on her thigh and gently squeezed, a lame attempt at comforting her. "Don't work yourself up about this. We'll get to the bottom of this, we always do."

She smiled warmly at me, and as I watched those incredibly familiar, deep brown eyes, now shining with unmistakable adoration, I found myself unable to look away. It was entrancing – Regina was entrancing. I had missed her, these past few months. Beautiful as the stars, and with a heart as big as it was maimed. I could read on her face the hints of how trying our morning had been; although we had cleaned up with magic, the soft creases at the edge of her eyes and the hooded lids revealed just how tired she was. I could bet I didn't look much better.

Henry cleared his throat a few moments later, startling us from our trance and erasing the goofy grin from my lips. We both muttered an embarrassed 'sorry', before focusing our attention on the food in front of us. We all went on making small talk until the waiter had cleared out the table and brought us the dessert menu; at that point, mom spoke up and addressed the only topic we were yet to discuss.

"Are we going to acknowledge at all the elephant in the room or should we just act like it's not there?"

I sharply sucked in a breath, dreading the direction the conversation was taking. "Yeah, uh- sure…"

"As you may have gathered from what I have told you before coming to New York, not to mention what we have been discussing until now, Emma and I are in love," Regina replied, all regal with her high chin and straight back, "and, whether you like it or not, we intend to cultivate a relationship."

Everyone went silent for a beat, and then, as usual, everyone started talking at once.

"Why would we not be okay with that?" Henry had asked.

"We've been waiting for you – both of you – to be happy for the longest time. If being in a relationship is going to grant you that happiness, I don't see why we would be against that," dad had said.

However, it was mom's excited – no, thrilled – squeal that we heard more clearly. She was grinning and clapping her hands together like an absolute maniac, and… were those tears?!

All four of us (and a few customers and waiters, too) stared at her. "This is so perfect!" she said, her voice so high-pitched I was surprised the glasses didn't break. "I mean, it's not like I hadn't seen this coming, after all you were all each other could think or talk about before the Dark Curse broke, and then you became allies and then actual friends, and I kept wondering why the hell none of you ever made the first step." She was talking quickly and gesticulating wildly – so much so that Henry and David had recoiled on their seats to stay as far away from inadvertent punches as they could. Nonetheless, none of us could stop listening. "I mean, not that I didn't like Neal or Hook or Robin! After all, if they were the ones who would make you happy in the end, then of course I would be happy too. But I still saw something between you two, something that you never acknowledged and therefore I never addressed. Every time you somehow interacted with each other, whether it was to fight or to help, there was this… longing… that lingered between you two. Like a whole universe of 'what if's… And I'm so, so immensely happy that you have finally stopped holding everything back. You two are some of the most important people in my life, and I'm glad to be able to witness this: your happy ending unfolding in front of us. And, trust me, for you two to find happiness is all I have ever wished for."

She wiped at the few stubborn tears that had managed to fall, and then held our gazes, waiting for someone to say something.

Regina humored her. "Snow," she said. I could feel the swirling vortex of many different emotions she was feeling. Self-loathing, guilt and reluctant affection were the strongest ones, and I could tell how she didn't deem herself deserving of my mom's wholehearted acceptance of her as part of the family. "I-"

"Don't," I interrupted her. "Don't ruin this for you." It was enough for Regina to put her doubts aside – at least momentarily; in all honesty, I didn't think they would ever completely disappear – and simply smile gratefully at me, muttering then a, "Thank you," to mom that was heavy and sincere and it made her beam.

"Where did you leave Neal?" I asked then, and the conversation moved onto a lighter topic.

"With Zelena," dad replied. He laughed at Regina and I's disbelief. "I know! It's just that, you know, we're giving her another chance, too. She helped in the Underworld, she helped with Regina's memory curse… She's trying to change. Besides, you two trust her, and we trust you."

"Fair enough," I simply commented. The conversation went on for a couple more minutes, but soon we were asking for the check and Regina was insisting the lunch was on her.

"You came all the way here. I wouldn't be alive if Emma hadn't come. Offering you this lunch is the least I could do."

"Fine," mom sighed, finally, "but tonight we're all having dinner at the loft." Regina accepted the compromise and we all strolled around the city, enjoying Henry's thrilled comments about everything he recognized, listening to his anecdotes on even the most insignificant of things and thoroughly enjoying the fact that we were all there, we were all alive and we weren't going to lose anyone any time soon.

"Hey," I said after a while, a question that was yet to be answered on my mind, "how exactly did you find us?"

"Be very careful about what you're going to say," Regina hissed menacingly, when she saw dad open his mouth to reply. Clearly, she'd had enough of 'I will always find you's for today.

"I was just going to say that there was a silver swirl of magic right above Central Park. It couldn't have been anyone but you," dad said. Curious: I didn't even notice that.

Regina's brow furrowed. "This might be a problem. There were many, many people there, earlier; and if you're telling me you were able to see our magic from far away, then the witnesses must be countless."

"What do you think we should do? Let them ponder on the fact that everything they believed in was a lie, that magic does exist, and risk the government to come after us to study and experiment? Or find a spell that would make everyone forget about it?"

"I might have the perfect solution for your problem," a thickly accented voice intervened; the five of us turned around at once.

Out of nowhere, the Dragon had appeared. Regina took a protective step forward, essentially placing herself between him and us (which probably wasn't necessary, but it was really cute, so I didn't complain), and asked, suspicious, "And why would you help us, if I may ask?"

I placed a hand on her arm as an attempt to make her relent. "It's okay," I told her, "I asked for his help to wake you from the curse."

Sometimes, what is right in front of your eyes is the hardest thing to see, he had said. Man, was he right.

"I see you have managed to open your eyes," he commented with a smile, "and your heart."

I looked at Regina, a small frown distorting her features but doing nothing to ruin the beauty that lied within them. I was seeing her, now. Finally I was seeing the love I had denied myself for so many years.

"I have." The intense surge of emotion that I was feeling had probably touched Regina, who turned to face me and shot me a smile that was definitely just as goofy as my own. She slept her hand in mine and intertwined our fingers, and I knew I would never get tired of the butterflies.

"Uhm," mom spoke up, seeing how too involved Regina and I were with each other to pay any more attention to the Dragon, "so, what would this solution be?"

The Dragon chuckled at the embarrassment on our faces, but didn't point it out. Instead, he affirmed, "I was chosen to be Warden of this land. It is my duty to ensure its safety, even from magic. I have erased traces or manifestations of it for decades, and today's occurrences were nothing I can't fix. You can go back home and let me take care of this inconvenience."

I breathed a sigh of relief. One more problem solved, one less thing we needed to worry about. Maybe, there would be a time when the most urgent matter will be what to cook for dinner… For now, we'll have to settle for crazed pawnbrokers.

Henry silently moved to pick up the crystals and the jewelry box, which had fallen to the floor after the gods' disappearance and hadn't been picked up from anyone yet; and understandably so, considering Central Park was completely deserted.

Then we all admired the Dragon as he turned his back to us, held his arms up and enunciated a spell in a language I didn't recognize. As he did so, Regina and I created a barrier around the five of us to avoid being affected; then, a green beam of light erupted from the man in front of us, and magic disappeared from New York City.

Regina and I stayed back as we watched mom's pick-up merge in the traffic. Dad had insisted that Regina and I needed some time alone to talk – something that had been impossible to do since I had arrived to New York. So, Henry had gone with them, and even though I knew Regina would like to spend as much time as possible with him, we did need privacy and to stay away from distractions.

When the familiar car finally disappeared from sight, I felt Regina's cold hand seek comfort in mine, and we took off, headed to her apartment. We strolled through Central Park for a bit, not saying anything and enjoying each other's company in a whole different way than before. Our conjoined emotions lacked the fear of losing the other, there was nothing stopping us from being together – from being the family we had never had and the couple we had always hoped to be. We could achieve the normality we had struggled to earn for so long. We were going to be okay.

As I settled onto the couch, pulling Regina down with me, I hugged her tight, half-sitting and half-laying down, both uncomfortable but, undoubtedly, the happiest we had ever been.

"I love you," she told me. I would never tire of hearing those three words, and I immediately swore to myself that I would never miss a chance to say them. She deserved it. She deserved everything that I could give her.

"I love you," I repeated then, and it was impossible to bear the combined emotion our mismatched hearts were conveying for much longer.

Regina seemed to know exactly what was going through my mind, because she leaned away from the hug just enough to give me a quick peck on the lips and look me in the eye, and said, "Do you think we should exchange them back?"

I hesitated for a brief second. There was still something I wanted to try, and now, with the apartment all to ourselves and no imminent threats looming over us, nothing could stop me from getting what I wanted.

I let my hands slip underneath the soft fabric of her sweater, grazing the skin of her lower back, as I said, "I actually had something else in mind…" and she smiled before kissing me passionately, with such fervor that my head started spinning.

Needless to say, making love to the person whose heart is beating in your own chest brings a relationship to a whole new level.

As I sat up, finding a more comfortable position, and Regina straddled me, I could feel both of our anticipations build up, our heartbeat growing more frantic as each layer of clothing was slowly (so, so slowly) removed. To crown it all, powerful and steady was the utter adoration that made me crave the woman in my arms more and more, and as we fought for dominance and giggled at the irony of it (after all, wasn't it what we had been doing at the very beginning of our story? Pushing and pulling, getting a rise out of each other because there was so much tension that we didn't know how to handle it), it didn't falter for a second.

Eventually, I gave in to Regina's wishes and let her gain the upper hand, as she kissed every inch of my naked body, lingering on my chest, right where our heartbeat was stronger, to pay even more attention to that particular spot.

She let her hands wander and caress my breasts, my stomach, my thighs – a restless yet slow, feathery motion that made me shiver and squirm in need for more – while her mouth left a trail of possessive, passionate kisses from my neck to the decades-old scar right above my breast and again to my hip, where she bit down hard just for the hell of it. It was going to leave a mark, that was for sure, and I knew Regina loved it as much as I did. Hers.

When she moved on to my inner thigh, taking her time and leaving love-bites here and there, making me wetter and wetter as she continued to neglect the place where I needed her mouth the most, I felt her need to please me grow in her side of my heart, the will to make me even happier, and that alone almost had me come undone. But Regina didn't cave in, didn't listen to my pleads, and continued teasing and chuckling lowly when I pulled hard at her hair, kissing attentively every inch of skin that surrounded my sex and making me drip with arousal.

"Regina, I swear to god, if you don't fuck me right now-" I didn't get a chance to finish the sentence, because a loud moan escaped my throat as her tongue finally swiped through my wetness, and I would have laughed at the utter joy that spiraled in me from both of us, hadn't I been so distracted by her head between my legs.

She groaned at my taste, the vibrations of her voice only exciting me even more, and after what felt like an eternity, she circled her tongue on my clit and I was already embarrassingly close.

"Fuck, Regina," I choked out as she mercilessly licked and sucked on my bundle of nerves, my breath already shaky and my hands gripping tightly at her hair, pushing her even harder against me. She then unceremoniously thrusted two fingers inside of me, and I screamed her name over and over as I came, our conjoined emotions making it the most intense, most guttural orgasm of my life.

She emerged from her position, lips glistening with my arousal, hair disheveled, eyes darker than ever before – and I had never seen anyone as beautiful. I kissed her deeply, aggressively, both of us whispering, "I love you," every time we managed.

In a rush of stamina, I flipped our positions, so that now Regina was lying down and I was straddling her. I took a moment to take that image in – Regina naked, flushed, with smeared make-up and her reddened lips parted, and I only fleetingly asked myself how I could possibly deserve someone that perfect. I decided then and there that I needed to look at her in the eye as I pleased her; I slipped a hand in between her legs and moved on top of her, so that my body was flush against hers and I was resting my weight on my left arm.

"You're so beautiful," she whispered as she ran a hand through my hair. I kissed her, suffocating the moan she let out as I moved a digit along her slick folds and up to her clit, applying only the tiniest bit of pressure to pay her back for the tease. I circled my fingers around the nub, never gratifying her, and I smirked when she bit my lip in frustration.

I broke the kiss to let our gazes interlock. None of us looked away as I slid my middle finger inside of her, quickly adding the ring finger as well, eliciting a chocked gasp from her. Her eyes rolled back for a second as I began moving in and out, but she was quick to re-establish eye contact, needing it just as much as I did.

She let out a menacing, "Emma…" when I didn't start curling my fingers to hit her spot, because even during sex she preferred threatening instead of begging. But I didn't indulge her, moving slowly and pressing my thumb against her clit only for a second, before removing it. And she dug her nails in my back every time I did so, but she still didn't ask, she still didn't implore, and eventually I just caved in. I didn't address the relief that washed over me but come entirely from Regina.

I finally started speeding up the movements, curling my fingers upwards to graze the spongy tissue of her sweet spot with every violent thrust, and it was a matter of seconds before she climaxed, her walls clutching around my digits and wetness engulfing her entrance. She hadn't screamed – she never did; but she had choked out my name so many times that even the walls had learned it by heart. I didn't even give her a chance to recover, before my tongue was on her, dragging out the orgasm until another one was building up, and at least that got her to swear – and hearing curse words leaving Regina Mills' mouth while I was eating her out was probably the most wonderful thing in this godsforsaken world.

My chest was hurting from how intense our emotions had gotten, but we would have gladly kept going, if it hadn't been for the fact that we had been through a whole lot, that day, and we really needed to take things slowly, one step at a time. We were tired, our adrenaline was starting to die out and we still had a seven hours-long car drive ahead of us.

"We should probably get going," I mumbled then, my head resting on her chest as I took in the sound of our two hearts beating as one. Regina was combing her fingers through my hair, and I could have fallen asleep right then and there.

"Why?"

I smiled. "We are having dinner with my parents." I raised my head just enough to see her grimace, but I could tell she was secretly glad.

"Tell Snow to call Zelena, too. She gets all cranky when we have family dinners and don't include her."

"Will do, Your Majesty," I retorted, and by her sharp intake of breath and her thighs suddenly clenching, I deduced she really liked the title. Good to know. I chuckled at that and ran a hand along her side, just enjoying the silky-smooth skin and somehow unable to stop drinking her in – with my eyes, my hands, my heart. There were so many sides to Regina, so many flakes of her personality, that I would never tire of worshipping every single one of them in every way that I could.

"You think I'm funny, Miss Swan?" My head had found its place back on her chest, but I knew she was smiling even though I couldn't see her.

I lifted my body just a hair's breadth away from her, shifting up until our eyes were levelled. I nuzzled my nose against hers, and looked at her intensely as I said, "I think you're the most wonderful person I've ever had the good fortune of meeting, Madame Mayor." Regina's eyes glazed over at that, and a wave of adoration rushed through me as she caressed my cheek; and years of self-loathing, guilt and insecurities bubbled up inside of her, but were completely overpowered by my love. "I love you. I'm getting repetitive, but I'll never stop saying it," I joked, and with that I sat up, never moving off of Regina's body. "Enough with the sentimentality. God forbid we start sounding like my parents."

Regina laughed at that, throatily and lightheartedly, and it was the most beautiful sound. She swatted my ass to make me climb off of her, and as I walked away to look for my neglected clothes, I heard her mutter to herself, "The things I'd do to you…" in a voice so husky that it caused another gush of arousal to course through me.

Ignoring the remark was probably the best thing to do. We were never going to leave that flat, otherwise.

Way-too-many-clothes back on, I walked up to Regina, gave her a chaste peck on the lips and asked, "Ready?"

She nodded lightly. "I'm going to miss you. I know this is necessary, but I was growing used to having your heart inside of me."

"I know. But I'm not going anywhere, alright?" She kissed me in reply. When we broke apart, we dug our hands inside of each other's chest again.