Dark 17

Emma called Regina the next morning to talk about how the should handle the Henry situation. They decided they should have a talk with him together, and decided to meet at Granny's after Emma's shift at the station.

Emma slid into the booth next to Henry and smiled shyly at Regina. She turned her attention to Henry, who could tell he was in big trouble. "Hey mom," he said tentatively.

"Hey kid. Listen, your mom and I want to ask you something."

Emma nodded at Regina who leaned forward slightly. "Henry, is there anything that you want to tell us?"

Henry looked back and forth between his mothers and swallowed. "Like what?"

Regina lifted her hands up in question. "Anything that's been going on, that you've been doing that you want to tell us about."

Henry knew he was busted. He looked down at his hands and shifted uncomfortably. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? It was just- I just thought you guys just needed a little push in the right direction."

"Henry, why? Why have you decided to try and push us together? Did someone say something to you?"

Henry furrowed his eyebrows. "No. Why?"

Regina glanced at Emma and decided to ignore Henry's question. "Henry, what are you trying to accomplish, here?" Henry's face flushed and he looked down again. "Henry, it's okay. Just tell us the truth."

Henry shrugged his shoulders and smiled gently between the two women. "I'm sorry, it's just. I think-maybe-after all this time, trying to fix things, and find mom's happy ending-maybe it was right in front of us the whole time!"

Emma looked at Regina in surprise and swallowed. "What do you mean, Henry?"

He looked at her and shrugged his shoulders. "You and mom. You should be together. As a couple."

Regina felt her face flush and cocked her head. "Henry! Why would you think that?"

Henry's face suddenly fell. "I-I can't tell you."

Emma and Regina looked at each other in confusion. "Why not? Come on, Henry, tell us what's going on."

Henry thought for a moment until shaking his head again. "No. I'm afraid if I tell you it will affect the future and ruin it. You can't know."

Regina reached over and took one of Henry's hands. "Henry, don't be silly. Just, please. Tell us the truth."

Henry sighed and stuck his hand deep in his pocket. He plucked out a piece of folded up paper and dropped it on the counter.

Emma looked down at it in curiosity. It looked like a picture from Henry's storybook. She noticed that it was all wrinkled as if at one point it had been crumpled into a ball. She picked it up and unfolded it. Her face went white.

Regina saw Emma's face turn pale as she looked at what appeared to be a page from a storybook. She swallowed, knowing whatever Emma was looking at had completely shocked her. Regina shivered slightly as Emma slowly lowered the page and handed it over to Regina. Regina took the page and turned it to face her. Regina's mouth fell open. She was holding a baby. Emma was holding her and kissing her on the side of the face. Emma's hand was on Regina's arm, clearly a wedding ring on her finger.

Regina bit the inside of her cheeks as she tried not to look at Emma. She looked up and Henry who had half a smile on his face. "Henry, where did this come from?! Where did you get this?"

"I found it in the study. The day you woke up after the dark one was defeated. It was crumpled up on the floor."

"What?!" Regina gasped. "It's not possible!"

Emma was worried at Regina's reaction. "What is it, Regina?" Regina sat staring at the picture with her mouth hanging open. She looked up at Emma and shook her head.

"That night...after I spoke with you on the phone..." She swallowed and glanced at Henry. She was a bit embarrassed to be having this conversation with him present but continued. "I found one of the empty storybooks that Henry took from the sorcerer's mansion. The pages were all blank. I-ripped a page out and wrote something on it. Then I crumpled it up and threw it across the room."

Emma raised her eyebrows. "What did you write on the page?"

Regina felt her heart beating wildly. "I wrote: 'and Regina lived happily ever after.'"

Emma's mouth fell open and she felt her mouth go dry. She looked at Henry who was now smiling fully as he shook his head. "See? Happy ending. Right in front of you."

Emma stammered and looked at Regina as her face flushed.

Regina smiled shyly then looked back at Henry. "Not necessarily, Henry, I mean there's a very similar picture like this of me and Robin."

Henry shrugged his shoulders. "And there could very well be one of Emma and Hook somewhere. They are all possibilities of what might be. The thing is, I think we can all choose our path. We can decide if we pick something that is simply good enough, or what truly is our happy ending."

Regina and Emma looked at the boy in shock and wonder, astonished in his words. He truly had the heart of the truest believer. Emma reached out and tousled his hair. "What if this was the future? Would you be okay with that?"

Henry smiled widely. "Of course! Look at me in the picture! I can't think of a happier ending than us being a family."

Emma and Regina blushed at each other and Regina cleared her throat. "Well, Henry, we are...a far cry from this picture," she paused, noticing Henry look at her expectantly. "But, you should know that Emma and I...are going on a date."

Henry giggled. "So it worked, then. Most successful operation yet."

Emma punched him playfully in the shoulder. "Kid, don't do anything like that again, okay? Lying is not cool." Henry nodded. "Out of curiosity, what was this one called?"

Henry grinned, baring his teeth fully. "Operation Swanqueen!"

XXXXXXXX

Emma arrived on the front porch of the mansion with sweaty palms. She wiped them off on the thighs of her jeans before ringing the doorbell. Henry was out camping with David for the night, so Emma couldn't help but keep it in the back of her mind that her and Regina had all night to themselves. Emma really wanted to take things slowly, but her entire body was screaming for Regina's touch, and she knew the brunette felt the same way.

When the door swung open Emma felt her stomach fall to the floor while simultaneously she became dizzy with arousal.

Regina saw the look of shock and lust on Emma's face and couldn't help but smile shyly as she glanced down at herself. She was wearing a tight dark purple dress, sleeveless to reveal slender toned arms, low cut enough to reveal a tasteless amount of beautiful cleavage. Her feet were donned by an emaculate pair of black Jimmy Choo's. "Good evening, Miss Swan," she said seductively. "See anything you like?"

Emma shook her head to snap herself back to reality, and smiled embarrassingly at Regina. "Hi, sorry, um. Yes, Regina, you look...wow." She looked the woman up and down again before smiling into brown eyes. "Are you ready?"

Regina closed the door behind her and stepped into Emma's personal space. She surprised Emma by putting a hand on her hip and offering a soft, passionate, agonizingly slow kiss that found her tongue reaching in to caress Emma's. She pulled back to find Emma's eyes sparkling with lust. "You have no idea."