A/N: *crawls out of a hole in the ground* I'm aaaliive! *loses an eyeball* or you know...


23.

Emma leaned back and crossed her hands over her stomach. She shouldn't have had any of that French toast after all. Now she was completely full and beginning to get sleepy when there was still so much they hadn't talked about. In fact they hadn't talked about anything important at all. Some pleasant conversation during breakfast was all good and well but not while she was trying to work up the courage to tell Regina that she wanted to return to Storybrooke.

The fear of rejection however made the words get stuck in her throat every time and she was basically waiting for Regina to give her an opening.

But of course she didn't make it that easy. Emma was trying her hardest not to stare. Here in this setting, with the sun just barely touching the side of her body, the waves sounding in the background, it was incredibly difficult to remember that they were not yet at a point where it was okay for her to just lean in and kiss those amazing full soft lips.

Regina's voice shocked her out of her reverie.

"Why did you though?"

"Why did I what?" Had she missed a part of their conversation?

"Why'd you come here?"

"I…uh…I well, I wanted to see you. And Henry." Emma began to fidget and smiled briefly at the waitress as she collected their empty plates. She glanced at Regina, noticing that she was still waiting for her to continue.

"Why don't we take a walk along the beach?"

Regina hesitated for a moment before nodding. Emma rose from her chair and led the way down the veranda and toward another shadowy path. Regina fell into step beside her and they kept walking silently until they were close enough for Emma to get rid of her shoes and dip her feet in the ocean.

The waves lapped gently at her ankles and she looked down at the white sand beneath her feet. A soft warm breeze brushed across her neck, allowing her to breathe more easily. She turned around to Regina who had also taken off her sandals and held her hand out to her. Regina didn't hesitate and entwined their fingers as they began walking along the beach. Emma squeezed Regina's warm soft hand and smiled.

"I came here because I needed to tell you that I can't stay away from Storybrooke. Not any longer. I want to come back, I want to be part of Henry's life, of your life too. I… I want us to work this out."

Regina stopped her with a gentle tug of her hand. Emma hesitated, she was afraid to turn and see rejection in brown eyes.

"It's not going to just all go away, what I did…and Henry, there is much to talk about, things to settle," Regina said quietly.

"I know. It's all I've been thinking about since you showed up at my apartment, hell since I've left Storybrooke. I still haven't figured out how you found me by the way."

Fingers came to rest against her cheek and with a bit of pressure Emma's head was turned.

Regina smiled softly. "I want us to work this out too. And we will, I promise. But I suggest we do that once we get back to Storybrooke. What do you say, why don't we try to enjoy this vacation? There's the beach, amazing food and great company, it would be a waste otherwise."

Emma felt her lips stretch into an answering smile. Could it really be this easy? Maybe it wasn't, but she wouldn't try to complicate things unnecessarily. There would still be time to talk about everything back in Storybrooke. They would figure out how to go on, Henry would have a say and she was more than ready to take it from there.

"I just need to know one thing," Regina said quietly.

Emma stepped closer, her hands trailing down toned arms until she gently held onto Regina's wrists with her fingertips. "Tell me."

"Will you ever be able to truly forgive what I've done?"

Emma took a deep breath, her chest expanding with the words she knew were true. "Yes. What happened hurt, a lot, but being without you, without Henry, hurts even more. I've made mistakes too, quite a few of them actually, and yet I'm here. None of this changes how I feel."

Regina made a little noise in the back of her throat before she pulled Emma into a soft embrace. Her hands settled at the small of Emma's back, drawing her closer until she rested her head against the blonde's shoulder.

"I don't know how you do it," she mumbled into Emma's neck.

Emma wrapped her arms around Regina's warm body. "Do what?"

"Say just the right things. The first time we met, that night, you did it too."

Emma grinned. "I did? What'd I say?"

Regina cleared her throat and leaned closer, her lips brushing against the shell of Emma's ear. "You told me that I was breathtaking."

Emma closed her eyes at the memory, a shiver running down her spine.

"You are," she whispered.

She felt soft lips press against her cheek and a smile crept onto her face. Emma opened her eyes again and found Regina smiling back at her.

Happiness - that might possibly be what it felt like. Something clenched in her chest and she tightened her hold on Regina.

For a while she hadn't been sure that she would ever see that smile again, but things couldn't have gone better for her, for them. Despite the hurt, coming here, facing her own fears and trying to go after the things she wanted had been the right decision.

And right this moment she wanted nothing more than to kiss Regina.

She leaned in, her eyes seeking a brown gaze, until their lips almost brushed. Her heart was beating double-time and she could've sworn that she felt the heat from Regina's body all over her.

"Moms!"

Regina gasped, warm breath ghosting across Emma's lips. She stepped out of their embrace, turning in the direction of the voice. Emma scowled at the interruption but schooled her features into a friendly smile as she followed Regina's line of sight.

Henry was hurrying toward them with quick strides, Cora several paces behind him. Despite him stopping a potentially very pleasurable kiss, Emma was glad to see him. They hadn't talked too much the night before but he'd been at least excited to see her, more so than Regina, and judging by the broad grin on his face he was even happier to see them together now.

He basically raced across the remaining distance, launching himself into Regina and hugging her tightly. Emma watched the scene with a smile. Regina wrapped her arms around Henry and held him for several seconds before she raked a hand through his wind-tousled hair.

"Did you have a nice breakfast, dear?"

"Yeah it was really good, grandma got me an extra chocolate muffin afterward too."

Emma's eyes flickered over to Cora, finding dark eyes catching her gaze. She wasn't entirely certain but she could've sworn that she saw a tiny smile playing around the older woman's mouth. Approval perhaps? Well, without Cora she certainly wouldn't have made it this far.

"Miss Swan," Cora greeted her just as Henry moved from Regina's embrace to wrap his arms around her waist.

She hugged him back. "Hey kid."

"I'm glad you're here."

"I'm glad I'm here too, trust me on that."

She slowly let go of Henry. He looked from her to Regina. "So what do we do?"

Emma glanced at Regina before turning to Henry. "What do you mean?"

"Well, should we go swim? Go to the water park or just stay at the beach?"

"I…uh…I don't know," Emma answered slowly. Maybe she wouldn't even be welcome to join Regina, Cora and Henry since she was technically still crashing their family vacation. "Maybe you guys want to…uh…spend some time together, you know, family time."

Warm fingers brushed across the back of her hand and she glanced over to see Regina looking at her. "You're welcome to join us Emma."

Emma nodded briefly and Regina turned to Henry. "How about we spend the day at the beach?"

Henry grinned. "Yeah, that sounds like fun. Maybe I could learn how to surf?"

After Regina's eyebrow rose to her hairline he turned hopeful eyes to Cora, who pursed her lips to hide a smile. "Perhaps, let's get changed first, shall we?"

Henry skipped over to her and Cora rested her hand between his shoulder blades as they moved back toward the palm trees.

Emma turned to look at Regina, mouthing the word 'surfing'. She only received a shrug and slight thinning of lips in return.

"Ow…ow…stop touching it," Emma groused, raising her hands to bat away the fingers prodding at her forehead.

"You've been through worse Emma, so stop being such a baby."

"Who're you calling a baby? I wanna see you smack your forehead on a surfboard and then we'll talk."

Regina stared at her with a raised eyebrow until Emma grimaced. "Okay, yeah, I know you fell off your horse and hit your head much harder than I did, but it still hurts."

Emma was trying to pout, something she'd seen Henry do millions of times to get Regina to do whatever he wanted. I didn't exactly work but she noticed Regina biting her bottom lip to keep from smiling while she once again raised the ice pack in her hand and gently pressed it against the bump on Emma's forehead.

"Why did you get up on the surfboard in the first place if you knew your sense of balance rivals that of a toddler?"

Emma glared. "It does not. I am very capable of staying upright on any moving surface, the wave was just too big."

"Henry made it."

Before Emma could utter another retort, Regina took the ice bag away from her forehead to scrutinize the reddish bump that was most likely forming there.

"How bad is it?"

"I think you'll live."

"Thank you Doctor Mills, I was worried for a second there." Emma snatched the ice pack out of Regina's grasp and scooted up the bed to lie down. She closed her eyes and plopped the ice onto her forehead with a groan.

Her head felt like someone had stepped on it and danced a quick tango. Her forehead throbbed and she felt every heartbeat drum along her temples with an uncomfortable pressure.

After Henry had decided that he wanted to learn how to surf, Cora had paid for an instructor and somehow the kid had managed to rope her into joining him. It had been fun for a while but once the waves had reached a certain height she just hadn't been able to stay upright. In fact she'd made a complete idiot of herself by smacking into the board headfirst, almost knocking herself unconscious. Needless to say the surfing lesson had ended right then and there.

The bed dipped beside her and Emma cracked an eye open to see Regina settling beside her.

"I suppose we should refrain from doing any sportive activities since it seems to end with one of us getting injured every time."

"Yeah agreed." Emma smiled and took a deep, albeit quiet, breath. She inhaled the subtle fragrance of Regina's perfume – or maybe it was Regina's very own scent – and turned her head to the side.

Regina had closed her eyes, simply resting beside her on the bed like it was nothing out of the ordinary for them. Emma couldn't have stopped the broad grin stretching her cheeks even if she'd wanted to. If there was a future for her in which she would be allowed this view every morning for the rest of her life, she would do whatever it took to get there. So, without another word, Emma rolled to her side and pulled Regina into her arms.

She felt Regina stiffen and scooted closer with little wriggles of her body until she could throw her leg over both of Regina's.

A beautiful little laugh escaped the body beneath her and Emma grinned, raising her head from where it was nestled against Regina's neck.

"That okay?"

Regina relaxed against her and hummed quietly. She moved her hands to rest on Emma's hip and shoulder. A soft kiss was pressed against her temple and Emma returned to burying her nose in the soft skin beneath Regina's jaw. She inhaled quietly and sighed while the sounds of waves lapping against the shore slowly lulled her to sleep.