The weekend of the Boston Tattoo Convention, Regina had made plans to join Emma and Ruby at the convention on Saturday and Sunday, to help them at the booth. Emma had originally told Regina she wasn't expecting her to stop by at all, let alone stay at the booth, but Regina insisted on going. Regina wanted an opportunity to really watch Emma work and to learn more about the process. Emma had been trying to tell her but it really needed to be shown and Regina hadn't gotten a good opportunity when she went to Big Bad Wolf during work hours. Regina also wanted to be there for Emma, it was her first convention and she was nervous. Friday went without a hitch, Emma and Ruby passed out about half the business cards they brought with them and they each had full tattoo schedules.
Saturday morning, Regina and Emma argued over whether or not heels were a good idea for a convention that involved a lot of standing or walking around. It took 20 minutes for Regina to give in and put on a shoe that didn't have a heel. They got to the convention hall after August and Ruby, mostly due to the shoe fiasco, and Ruby gave them a hard time about being late.
"You know, in polite society, it's nice to let people know when you're running late."
"Well someone wanted to wear a pair of four inch heels."
Regina let go of Emma's hand and to put her hands on her hips, "Don't be ridiculous, they were only three."
Ruby snorted and then realized that they were serious, "You had to talk her out of wearing heels? I thought you were just late because you were having sex and just didn't want to admit it this time."
"What do you mean this time?" Regina rounded on Emma, "Do you tell her about every time?"
"She usually just assumes."
Regina rolled her eyes and gestured to the booth, "Is there any setting up to be done or are you all finished?"
Ruby shook her head, "Nope, we just wait until people come in."
Emma and Regina got behind the table and Emma introduced August and Regina, and the group talked for another half an hour until people really started filling the hall. Soon enough, five Big Bad Wolf regulars came by the booth for tattoos and their schedule quickly filled up. Regina stayed and watched until all five people were done. Regina loved watching Emma work, she was more concentrated then she'd ever seen her and Regina could tell that Emma loved what she did. Regina took a walk around the hall and was surprised to see tattoo artists from all over the country, including one from California. She took the time to look at their portfolios and had to keep explaining that she wasn't looking to get a tattoo that day. Regina chose not to tell them that she had no current plans for a tattoo and the only person who would be tattooing her is her girlfriend. When she returned to the booth, Emma was tattooing a large back piece that took the rest of the day.
Sunday morning, Regina had to stop at Game of Thorns before the convention, so they drove separately. Emma thought that it was Regina's way of telling her that she was bored the day before but Regina insisted that she enjoyed the day before, she just had some work to do. Before Regina left the shop, she took a few tulips with her, it had been a while since she gave Emma flowers and she wanted to do something nice.
When Regina arrived at the convention hall, it was already packed with people and she struggled to get to the booth. Emma looked unhappy, but perked right up when Regina gave her the flowers.
"Wait, what do these mean again?"
"Well… originally it symbolized hopeless love." Emma was about to speak but Regina cut her off, "More recently, it has come to mean cheerful thoughts. However, I kind of like the idea of combining the two. How does hopelessly in love sound?"
Emma grinned, "Better." She looked around and stole a kiss. "Look at you, playing with flower meanings, you big sap."
"Don't make me wish I hadn't," Regina joked.
"Well aren't those just lovely," said a voice behind Regina that made her immediately stiffen. Regina turned, hoping that she was just hearing things, and tensed up even more.
"Mother? What the hell are you doing here?!" Regina hadn't talked to Cora since she walked out of her house months ago.
"Well, you weren't returning my calls and haven't come to the house, how else was I supposed to reach you?"
"You weren't," Regina said through gritted teeth.
"Well that's not very nice, I'm your mother, I taught you better." Cora chided. She turned her attention to Emma, "Miss Swan, it's nice to see you again."
There was a big difference between the way Regina said "Miss Swan" and the way Cora said it and she didn't like it one bit. "It's just Emma. It's nice to see you too." Emma hadn't even tried for a pleasant tone. "I'm surprised to see you here, knowing how you feel about tattoos."
"That's exactly why I had to come. I came to bring Regina home."
Emma and Regina both yelled, "What?!"
Cora focused on Regina, "It's obvious that you're not going to end this little fling yourself so I've come to do it for you. People like her," Cora gestured to Emma, who was getting angrier by the second, "Are beneath you. You are a Mills, you need to start acting like it. I thought the 'gay thing' would be the most disappointing thing you've ever done, but this is worse."
Regina was shaking with fury and opened her mouth to speak but Emma beat her to it, "Look lady, I don't know what your problem is, but you need to leave. Regina obviously doesn't want anything to do with you and she's an adult who can make her own decisions."
"Do you have any idea who I am?"
"Yeah, and I don't care. Right now, you're the person who terrorized the woman I love for most of her life and made her feel like there was something wrong with her. If you don't leave Regina alone, I will make your life a living hell."
Cora laughed, "What are you going to do? You don't have the means."
Emma smirked, "You're right, I don't have the means to do something like take over your business or something. But there's more than one way to take someone down and you wanna know a secret about tattoo artists? We know how to network, word of mouth is how we make our money and we generally take care of our own. I've seen the way you talk to people, I'm sure you've got employees who wouldn't be upset to see your reputation go to hell." Emma leaned in, "I'm not just talking about lower level employees either." Emma saw a flash of fear cross Cora's face.
Regina had been watching the exchange in shock. "I think you should leave now, Mother."
"When this goes poorly, I won't be there, Regina. I'm cutting you off." Cora said with a regained calm.
"I haven't touched your money. I don't want anything to do with you."
"So be it." Cora turned and stormed out, pushing people out of her way.
Regina took a few deep breaths and felt Emma wrap an arm around her.
"Are you okay?"
"Thank you."
"For what?"
Regina turned so she could look at Emma and hold her better, "For standing up for me. Nobody's ever really done that before."
"I thought you might be mad at me," at Regina's questioning look, Emma added, "For getting in the middle of a family matter."
"Emma, you are my family." Regina leaned in for a kiss but was stopped by an "Aww" and a catcall from the people around them.
Emma was speechless and the only thing she could do was look at Regina with all the love she had.
Emma had been planning the perfect proposal for weeks. She had enlisted Kathryn, Ruby, and Lacey for help and managed to keep it from Regina. It helped that she was able to do some stuff at her apartment and leave it there, she spent most of her time at Regina's. Ruby had made some jokes about U-Hauling but Emma ignored them. She had known since the first 'I love you' in Game of Thorns. She decided that she wanted to take Regina to the Botanical Gardens and propose there, it just felt right. There should be spots that were secluded enough to give them privacy and it was public enough that Kathryn and Ruby could be there. Unfortunately, Granny wouldn't let Lacey go because she still needed someone to man the phones and Granny hated talking on the phone. Emma decided to do it the Saturday after the tattoo convention.
Saturday morning, Emma awoke to breakfast in bed, courtesy of Regina and she almost started panicking, thinking that Regina knew what was happening later that day. Emma was so nervous she forgot that Regina liked making breakfast for her one day every weekend.
"What are we doing today? You still haven't told me."
"You'll see."
"Not even a little hint?"
"I'm driving."
"Do we have to take your death trap?"
"What's wrong with my bug?"
Regina crossed her arms, "Do you not remember the hubcap?"
"That happens to everyone once or twice!"
"No it doesn't. Can I drive?"
"We'll take your Mercedes, but I'm still driving."
Regina huffed, "Fine."
"I promise, it'll be fun."
Emma's original plan involved going out for breakfast, but Regina cooking worked out just as well and they were still on track to get to the stables when she wanted. Despite taking some extra time to thank Regina properly for breakfast.
They were ten minutes away from the stables when Regina started asking questions again. "Why are we going to the stables?"
"I thought it'd be fun to see Rocinante. We haven't been in a while."
"Not since you fell off and vowed never to ride a horse again."
"Oh I'm still sticking to that, but that doesn't mean you can't take him out."
When they got to the stables, Emma was happy to see that Kathryn had stopped by and dropped a picnic basket off in the small office in the stables. Emma waited until Regina had walked ahead of her and dipped into the office to grab it.
"So I was thinking that we could go on a picnic. I remember you telling me that there are a few trails around that lead to some nice spots."
Regina raised an eyebrow, "Where did you get the picnic basket?"
"Had it stashed somewhere. So do you wanna?"
"Of course."
Regina saddled Rocinante up and ran him around a few times before returning to Emma. "Ready to go?"
"Just point the way."
"Are you sure you don't want to ride?"
"Positive, I have no interested in bruising my ass again."
"Suit yourself."
They were on the trail for about 20 minutes when they came up on a small clearing that had a trash can and a place for tying up the horse. Emma found a nice spot and set everything up. She made a mental note to thank Kathryn for putting a blanket in there. Emma and Regina had fun feeding each other fruit. They took their time just enjoying the good food and each other's company. Regina had tried to talk Emma into taking advantage of the fact that they were alone, but Emma pointed out that with the horse chilling several feet away, they weren't really alone. Emma would have loved to spend the entire day out there with Regina, but she had a schedule to stick to and after an hour, she and Regina packed everything up and headed back.
"Is everything okay?" Regina asked her while she was untacking Rocinante.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Because you seemed kind of in a rush to leave once you saw your watch. Where else are we going today?"
"You'll see." Emma said with a teasing smile.
When Regina was finished with Rocinante, and after a brief argument about who was driving, they left the stables.
Fifteen minutes later, Emma parked in the lot for the Botanical Gardens and Regina smiled. "What are we doing here?"
"Well I know you've been wanting to go here and I thought it'd be nice. Emma got out of the car and Regina followed suit.
"First the lovely picnic and now a trip to the Botanical Gardens? What have I done to deserve this?"
"I love you and I wanted to do something nice," Emma pulled Regina in for a kiss, causing another smile to form on Regina's face.
"I love you too. Shall we go in? Or just canoodle in the parking lot?
"Did you seriously just say canoodle?" Emma asked and she walked towards the entrance.
"I did. Is that a no?"
"How about we not get kicked out of another place?"
"If you insist."
Emma and Regina followed the same path Emma had several days before. She had gone to the Gardens to scout out the perfect spot to propose and Emma and found it near the tulips. When Emma and Regina got close to where the tulips were, Emma saw Ruby and Kathryn there, as instructed. Regina hadn't noticed them yet. Ruby was taking pictures and Kathryn had her hands behind her back. Emma drew Regina's attention to a butterfly in the opposite direction from Kathryn and Ruby. Emma waved them forward a little bit so she could get Regina closer to them before she started the little speech she had.
"Umm… Regina?"
"Yes?" Regina was still looking at the butterfly.
"Let's go over here." Emma took Regina's hand and led her over to the tulips. When Regina saw Ruby and Kathryn, she gasped.
"What are you two doing here? Emma?"
Emma took Regina's hands. "They're here 'cause I asked them to be. Because there was something I wanted to ask you." Emma could feel her palms start to sweat and she had to wipe them on her pants. "I know we haven't been together long and this is probably really crazy but I haven't felt like this with anyone before. I love you more than I ever thought I could love someone and I was wondering…" Emma took a ring out of her pocket and got down on one knee, taking Regina's left hand in hers. "Regina Mills…"
Emma gestured to Kathryn, who pulled out the banner she had been hiding behind her back. The banner was covered in drawings of the various flowers that Emma had purchased from Game of Thorns and some that Regina had given her. "Will You Marry Me?" Was written in the middle of the banner.
"Yes!"
"Yes?"
"Yes! I'll marry you!" Emma put the ring on Regina's finger and Regina pulled Emma up on her feet and into a kiss that was so full of love, they thought they would burst.
Five Years Later
"Are you ready?" Emma asked Regina, holding up her tattoo gun above Regina's hip.
"Yes."
"Are you sure about this?" Emma asked for the millionth time. "Cause this is permanent and I don't want you to realize you didn't actually want this."
"Oh my god, Emma, just tattoo your woman! Or do you want me to do it?" Ruby asked, sitting next to Regina and playing with a toddler.
"I'm just making sure!" Emma replied defensively. Turning her attention back to Regina she said, "Alright babe, this might hurt a little."
The tattoo took about 45 minutes and when it was done, Regina had two simple flowers on her hip; an aster like the one Emma picked up the first time she went into Game of Thorns, and a yellow tulip. Emma cleaned up the area and applied ointment. "There we go, all finished." She pulled Regina up out of the chair and had her face the mirror. "What do you think?"
Regina took a long look at it before saying, "I don't know, I think the color's off." At the look on Emma's face she said, "I'm kidding dear. It's beautiful. Thank you." She pulled Emma into a hug and gave her a quick kiss.
"Come on, the woman gives you a great tattoo and all you do is give her a quick peck? Booo" Ruby stood up with the toddler, "Come on Henry, let's see what Aunt Kathryn is up to." She walked out of the shop, leaving Regina and Emma alone.
"She was right you know, that was a pretty lame kiss" Emma said with a smirk.
Regina raised her eyebrow, "Oh really?" and pulled Emma in for a more passionate kiss that left them both breathless. "Better?"
Emma nodded. "Better. Love you."
"Love you too."
I hope you enjoyed my fic, please review! Also, check out the other SQ Big Bang fics!