AN: I don't own OUAT (or Harry Potter... There's a Harry Potter reference or two.)

The dinner was almost like any typical dinner between the three of them. When Emma sat down, she realized she had had dinner in the mansion more than once now that she and Regina were friends. Friends who didn't really have many other friends and who also happened to co-parent a child who wanted to spend more time with both of his moms, she thought. She realized how far they had come once again and how happy spending time with both Henry and Regina made her.

"So, Mom, what does your happy ending look like, anyway?" Henry suddenly asked, pulling Emma out of her thoughts and alerting her that there was more to the question than what had just been queried. She followed Henry's line of sight and turned to look at Regina who had stopped eating and had a pensive look on her face.

"Well…" Regina started, not looking directly at either of them.

"I just thought that because this is such a big deal, you must have something in your mind. You'd want a life partner, right? Someone to hang out with after I go to college," Henry continued.

"Wow, slow down, kid," Emma said. She honestly didn't think mentioning Henry eventually growing up and leaving was a good idea when Regina was feeling heartbroken already. "That's not gonna happen in a couple of years."

"True. I'm not going to leave just yet." Henry smiled at her and then turned to Regina again. "So, Mom. What's this dream person like?"

"I suppose…" Regina started as she put her utensils down. Emma guessed the woman was wondering what sort of version of her desired happy ending would be suitable for Henry. "I want someone who sees me as Regina and not just the Evil Queen. Someone who makes me feel like life can be good again, someone to share it with…" she paused again but got no response, so she sighed and continued. "I know you do see me as someone else than the Queen now, Henry, and nothing makes me happier than that. But I suppose it would be nice to share this life with someone else, too. Another adult, a partner, an equal. Someone who loves you as much as I do and someone I could share that with."

Emma nodded because that kind of person would most certainly be right for Regina. Oh, and someone who wouldn't be married already and who would actually be Regina's choice. None of that soulmate crap, she added to herself.

"That sounds great!" Henry nodded enthusiastically, and Regina shrugged as she took a bite of her lasagna. "What about you, Mom?"

It took Emma a while to realize that Henry wasn't talking to Regina anymore. What had he asked?

"What about me?"

"Have you thought of a happy ending?" he asked.

She wondered how to answer the question. This whole town of fairytale people, and Henry, of course, was so very bent on finding happy endings. Then she remembered that she had promised Regina one, so she really wasn't the right person to judge and start to criticize the concept now.

"I don't know, kid. I'm pretty happy like this. Never been this happy before. I have you, my parents, my brother, your Mom… Storybrooke's been threat-free for… days. Things are pretty good for me. All I want that you guys are happy too."

"So you're not upset about breaking up with Hook?" Henry asked her, his voice a bit higher.

She was actually surprised how little she felt at all. She would've expected to feel loss or heartbreak, but none of it was there. She felt free. In the end, her heart had been completely elsewhere than in her relationship, and it wouldn't have lasted, especially because she had Henry to think about. She wouldn't have wanted to be dating a person her son didn't like; she had had her fair share of that in the foster system and she didn't want her own child to experience anything similar.

"No, I'm not," she answered, deciding to leave out the details she could've included.

"Okay, that's good."

Emma didn't try to analyze Henry's response further, although she still felt like there was something her son wasn't telling her. They kept eating in silence for a little while until Henry spoke again.

"So, there's something I have to tell you."

Emma's head shot up from her dinner to Henry. She knew the kid had been up to something else, and she really wanted to find out what it was. She turned to look at Regina who was reflecting her interested and alert expression.

"What's that, Henry?" Regina asked and took a sip of the red wine in front of her.

"So, I found a book last night…" Henry started.

"Last night when we were in the Author's house?"

"Yeah, I found a book there, and I took it with me… You were too distracted talking… or something to notice."

Emma saw that Regina was about to protest but then closed her already opened mouth.

"So, what happened with the book?" Emma asked.

"Well, I took it here with me, and… Moms, do you remember the second Harry Potter book?" he asked.

"Yeah, of course I do," Emma answered. She was surprised by the turn of Henry's story, and she was somewhat afraid of what would come next. All the fairytales from her childhood were real, and they had just bid goodbye to the replica of the latest Disney animation. She didn't know if she could take it if Harry Potter was real, too.

"Okay, good. I know Mom knows it because she read it to me," Henry said as he pointed at Regina.

Emma turned to Regina. "You read Henry Harry Potter?"

"Of course I did. It's a great story. And their magic amuses me. They got it all wrong," Regina smirked at her.

"So Harry Potter's not real?" Emma asked. She had to make sure.

"It isn't," Regina laughed. "I don't think that's relevant here. Henry was just about to say something. Go ahead, dear."

"Yeah, so I got the book and had an idea from Harry Potter that maybe if I wrote to it, it would answer."

"Kid!" she found herself saying before Henry had time to get any further. "Didn't you learn that that's exactly what you're not supposed to do?"

"Well, yeah, but Mom just said they got magic all wrong, so why not this thing too?" he tried to reason with her while Regina stayed quiet. "Can I explain this?"

"Okay, sorry, kid."

"So, I wrote on the first page of the book, and it answered to me. I asked it to show me my Mom's, Regina's, happy ending."

"What?" Emma heard both herself and Regina say, Regina's voice upset and hers incredulous.

"Yeah, and don't freak out, okay?" Henry raised his hands in surrender, his eyes searching for an ally from one of his mothers. Emma finally decided she wanted to hear the kid out, her curiosity overcoming the fear of what the book might've shown.

"Okay, kid, spill it. What did the book say?" she asked and felt Regina's gaze shift between the two of them.

"Come with me," Henry said, hopping off the chair and making his way out of the room.

Emma's gaze met Regina's. She couldn't quite place the emotion the woman seemed to be feeling at that moment, but her eyes were wide and her posture rigid.

"You okay?"

"I'm…" Regina started. "I'm not sure if it's wise to hear what that book has to say."

"You wanna make your own destiny, and not what the book thinks is right for you?"

"Yes, that…" Regina said quietly, her gaze shifting from her to the wine glass in front of her.

"You still wanna go see what the kid discovered?" she asked. "You don't have to." Because Regina didn't really have to, and Emma wouldn't want to force something like this on her.

"Yes, let's go."

They were in Henry's dimly lit room, and the kid was sitting on his bed, holding a closed book in his lap. The book was rather big and Emma wondered how he had managed to bring it into the house without her and Regina noticing in the first place.

Regina shifted next to her, and Emma fought the urge to put a hand on the woman's shoulder. Henry seemed to notice the anxiousness of his mother and finally spoke.

"Okay, so as you know, I took the book out of the house. I also took one of the quills I found there, and then thought of what happened to Harry when he wrote on the book. I knew it wasn't likely to happen, but I believed I could at least try, so I wrote show me Regina Mills' story and her happy ending. And the thing is, all this text and pictures appeared on the book."

Emma realized she was holding her breath, unsure if she wanted to know what would come next. Regina was quiet, still standing next to her, waiting for their son to finish the story.

"And the thing is, it showed me your story!" Henry beamed. "Not the way the book grandma gave me, with you being all evil and stuff, but it told your story right from the start. You as a little girl, you riding your horse, the stable boy…" Regina gulped next to her, and Emma shook her head at Henry. He seemed to understand he should just get to his point, so he quickly skipped a few decades of Regina's story. "And then the book showed us together, all happy, just having dinner together and reading and stuff. It said something like…"

Henry opened the book and flipped through the pages. Emma turned to look at Regina, who was standing still like a statue, her expression similar to the one she had worn downstairs.

"Here it is! Regina had forgotten that she had found her happy ending when she became a mother to the boy she loved very much, but she eventually saw what had been in front of her all along. What was even better was that the Savior she had feared for so long loved the son they shared just as much, and the two, against all odds, fell for each other, too, without the other one knowing. Happy endings weren't always what people thought they would be, but that was what made them even more special."

Henry slammed the book shut, and Emma was unable to close her mouth that had opened from the shock. No sound came out of her, though, and judging by the silence in the room, the same had happened to Regina.

"So," Henry added. "I can't give you guys too many spoilers, I guess, but I'd say that might give you both something to think about. I thought that maybe the book was just messing with me first, but then I kinda looked at both of you in a new way today and saw it too."

Emma was speechless, unable to look at Regina, her gaze fixated on the book in Henry's lap. She fought the urge to run or magic herself out of the situation, but somehow managed to stay still.

"Emma, I'm going to tuck Henry into bed," she finally heard Regina's overly polite voice say. "You're free to wait in my study if you like."

"I…" she started, feeling too many emotions at once. "Yeah, sure," she finished, meeting Henry's encouraging eyes for one last time before fleeing the scene, unable to look at Regina.

This hasn't been beta-read (I think I'm looking for a new beta reader tbh), and I'm still a non-native English-speaker, so please let me know if something's wrong! Thank you for reading. (Reviews make my day.)

One chapter left after this one!