Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon a Time.
Warning: SwanQueen. Possibly misplaced grammar. English isn't my native language, but I promise to always try my best at catching every mistake I can.
AN: Takes place years after the final battle. This is the end of this fic...thanks for reading this far.
A Happy Ending
The years in Storybrook seemed to have flown by faster than the blink of an eye. For someone like Emma, who has never stayed in one place for more than a few months, it was a shock to the system to realize that so much time had passed. One moment she was just arriving in Storybrook with her biological runaway juvie son and the next, she was helping that same kid, now eighteen-years-old, load the bug (Emma's gift to him) as he headed out the door for the University of Boston and towards a separate life that didn't include her.
Next to her, Regina was fighting back tears. Once everything was loaded in and ready, he turned to them.
He pulled Emma first into his arms.
"I love you, Mom," he said. His chin came to rest on top of her head. He had grown to be taller than she was. His voice was deeper and the baby fat in his face had given way to well defined cheek bones and a strong jaw. In fact, he was the spitting image of Neal as a young teen complete with the unruly hair and the charming smile. A part of Emma pang at that thought. If Neal was alive today, he would have been proud. Henry had grown up to be a good man who thankfully didn't inherit her or Neal's recklessness (though that level headiness could be contributed to Regina's influence). Henry was an adult now. It was a hard lump to swallow because no matter how old he got, in her head he would always be the ten-year-old boy that showed up on her doorstep all those years ago and made her believe in magic.
Emma held onto him tightly.
Then, doing what had to be the hardest thing in her life to do, Emma let him go.
Henry then turned to Regina.
"I love you, Mom," he said. His voice cracked a little as he pulled her into a tight hug. Regina sobbed and clung to him and Emma briefly had to wonder if she would have to pry Regina's nails from Henry's shirt.
A moment later Regina composed herself long enough to let him go.
"I'll be back for the holidays," he promised.
"Call me when you get there," Regina ordered through her tears.
"I will."
And just like that he got into the car and he drove off.
They waved from the sidewalk until the bug disappear from their sight.
Emma couldn't help but think that Storybrook, somehow, seemed a little less magical without Henry.
A sniff by her side caught Emma's attention. Emma turned to Regina who looked as if she was inches from bolting after the car. Seeing the half proud, half despairing look on Regina's face sent a streak of affection coursing through Emma.
"Marry me," Emma said.
Regina's head swivel so fast that Emma felt a little twinge of sympathy when Regina groaned in pain.
"What did you say?" Regina asked.
"Marry me," Emma repeated. Life generally was a revolving door with people coming and going. Even family eventually drift apart as they lived their own lives. The only thing Emma was dead sure about was that she was always going to right next to Regina. After all, she even followed Regina to the Underworld. Death till they part was nothing to them.
Emma moved to gently massage Regina's neck and she hid the smile when Regina moved unconsciously into her touch. Emma leaned forward so that their foreheads touched and she stare into Regina's eyes. "What do you say?"
Regina hesitated.
Then she answered.
It took them eight years, sixteen days, and four minutes to get to this point, but only fifteen-minutes to get the courthouse and sign the paper that tied them legally to each other.
The first thing they did as a married couple was just to walk together on the wharf.
Emma found herself looking for the Jolly Roger.
Killian had left years ago, setting sails for something bigger and better. Occasionally, he would send Emma waterproof letters through Ariel, but those got fewer and fewer as time passed. In the last message, dated a year ago, he seemed to be doing well. Enjoying life and the ladies, the letter said (it was punctuated with a crude drawing of a winky face). He seemed happy where he was, but there were times where Emma missed him with a ferociousness that surprised even her. No one quite understood her like Killian. The memories of all the mayhem they tended to cause just walking down the street together made Emma want to cringe and laugh at the same time. Wistfully, she stared at the fishing boats that were docked. She was distracted when Regina bumped her shoulder into Emma.
Emma causally reached out and her fingers slipped to entwine with Regina's fingers.
"Getting fresh with me dear?" the mocking tone in Regina's voice couldn't be missed.
"I got fresh with you a long time ago," Emma snort back.
They fell into silence as they kept walking.
"I don't hate you," Regina said quietly.
Even after all these years, Regina couldn't say those three words to Emma that most normal people could say without hesitation to their partner. Regina has been burned too many times. Emma thought (and here she's realized that she's been spending way too much time with Archie) that a part of Regina might still be frighten. Regina has lost everyone, with the exception of Henry, she's ever said those words to. Instead of uttering "I love you," she says the one thing that came close enough to it that Emma would recognize.
Emma squeezed her hand.
"I love you, too," she said to Regina.
Emma has enough courage for the both of them.
Side by side, they moved forward to their happy ending.