It was a lovely spring day and the Charming family were enjoying some time together that didn't involve monsters or evil sorceresses. Henry and David were practicing their sword fighting, with the occasional useful advice from Snow and the occasional not useful suggestion from Emma.

"I really need to teach you how to handle one properly you know." David said with a laugh, "You handle a sword like you are hacking with a machete."

"Were there any machetes in the Enchanted Forest?" Emma asked, taking a sip of her beer from where she was watching them.

"It was a forest." Snow said as she came out of the building with a bowl of hot water. "I do not know how I managed to get this many bird droppings on my car just since last night."

Emma tried to hide a chuckle by taking another sip, "Maybe you annoyed some birds. I had that happen with seagulls once when I lived in Boston."

"Birds always like me..." Snow mumbled.

"Maybe they are afraid of someone else more..." Emma mumbled.

"What was that?" Snow asked over her shoulder.

"Nothing." She said innocently. "Listen, I did want to talk to the two of you about something."

"What?" David asked just as Henry mock stabbed him in the stomach.

Emma and Henry exchanged a look. They'd talked about this a lot and made a decision together. Now she just had to face the hard part. "I'm going to ask Regina if she would be alright with Henry moving back home."

Snow nearly dropped her bowl of water, and Henry looked at her expectantly. Catching herself, she tried not to say anything too bad about Regina in front of him. "Are you sure that's a good idea. I mean he's just settling into his room at your place."

"And he can still stay there sometimes. It's just... Regina's been doing so much better. Better for Henry. And really he was only staying with us because she was in a bad space."

Snow looked like she wanted to argue, but she looked at Henry, and something seemed to soften. "Henry... can I ask you a question?" Snow sat down on the steps of the building and Emma put down her beer bottle wondering what this could be about.

"Sure." He said with a smile.

"I... when I was your age I loved Regina more than anything in the whole world. Maybe even more than I loved my father. But I wasn't very good at loving her. I didn't see how much she was hurting. Changing. Do you think you can? Because I really do believe she loves you. I've seen Regina's capacity for love. But if you are going to move back home with your Mom, I need you to promise me that you'll love her better than I did."

There were tears in Snow's eyes as she spoke, and Henry put a hand on her shoulder. Emma wondered, as much as she might feel for Regina, if there was something her mother and her son shared about this woman that she might never understand. David came over and put his hand on Snow's other shoulder and squeezed it.

"It's not really our place to say anyway, Emma. You and Regina are his moms."

Henry smiled widely, as if satisfied that the battle had been won without any bloodshed. "Don't worry grandma. I'll still be around and staying with Mom sometimes too. I just miss my old room."

"And his mother's cooking." Emma put in.

Snow looked over at Emma with a quizzical look, but didn't say anything about it.

"Please tell me you didn't order the birds to dive bomb Mary Margaret's car." Emma said as she sat down on the couch in Regina's office while the other woman did paperwork. It was late and they were supposed to go back to the house to try another date. This time without sex, or attempted sex, Emma had the Fellowship of the Ring and she thought perhaps that would be a good follow up to discovering Regina loved giant robots fighting undersea aliens.

"I did not order your mother's feather friends to defecate on her car. They might... not be too pleased with her for putting them on my bad side." Regina said not looking up.

"They're okay with him moving back home." Emma said quietly. "I was wondering if we could make it so that I could have him over my place on weekends? And maybe dinner some night in the week."

It was the reverse of the agreement that Regina had had earlier and something about it made the mayor smile magnanimously. "I think that can be arranged. Was your mother really alright with that?"

"I think she might be warming to you." Emma provided hopefully.

"Your mother's warmth was never the problem, Miss. Swan."

"Neither was yours." Emma shot back, but without any malice.

Regina chuckled. "How are you explaining spending so much time with me. Without Henry."

"I'm not exactly. I mean I told her that you were giving me some magic lessons."

"I'll bet that thrilled her." Regina observed.

"David was less happy with that idea."

"You know it should be more than a lie. You need the lessons."

"I probably do." Emma acknowledge. "Nothing that Mother Superior has been trying seems to work."

"I told you, fairy magic and sorcery are different things."

"Is this going to be one long night of I told you so's?"

Regina gave a mischievous grin, "Perhaps."

Emma shook her head, "You really are still a bit evil you know."

"I'm domesticated."

"Bullshit."

"Well, more domesticated than you are." Regina shook her head, "What are you going to do about your mother's curiosity?"

"About my new boyfriend...?" Emma asked with a sigh. "I don't know."

"She wont react well you know."

"Ya' think?"

Regina might have given a sharp reply to that, but instead put down her pen and moved over to where Emma was sitting to hold her hand. "I'm really... really sorry for whatever this insanity of ..." She waved her hand a bit, "Whatever we're doing... is going to cause you. I need you to understand this isn't some sort of complicated evil plan."

"My superpower may not be a real superpower Regina, but I do know when you are lying. And you're not." Emma leaned in and gave her a kiss on the lips, one that for the first time in their still uncertain relationship Regina returned without hesitation.