Almost done! Only two more updates to go! I'm almost going to miss this story when it's done...oh well, I guess I'll just have to be writing something new!

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Regina paused outside her son's bedroom door, unsure of whether to knock or not. Should she really be asking Henry about Emma? It was hardly his place to play relationship advisor between them, but she really had nowhere else to turn. And she was sure Emma had been blowing her off and lying to her about her whereabouts.

"Mom, I know you're there."

Regina frowned at having her choice taken away from her, pushing open the door. "Hello, sweetheart."

Henry put his pencil down where he was sitting drawing at his desk. "What's wrong?"

"Why would anything need to be wrong for me to want to come and talk to my wonderful son?" asked Regina, perching on the edge of Henry's bed.

Henry raised an eyebrow, the move very much the mirror image of her own trademark look. "You're wearing jeans. Clearly you were hoping to see Emma."

Regina looked down with a frown at the dark denim covering her legs. Emma may have mentioned she liked her in jeans once or twice...Was she really so easy to read?

"Mom?"

With a sigh, Regina looked up to meet her son's gaze. "Fine…I just wanted to ask…whether or not you knew what Emma likes to occupy her time with of late?"

"You mean besides hanging around here?" asked Henry with a smirk. He took in his mother's fidgeting with the comforter on his bed, and knew now wasn't the time to joke. This was really bothering her. He smiled to himself at the fact they had come far enough that she would now come to talk to him about it. He pushed himself out of his desk chair, coming to sit on the bed next to his brunette mother. "What are you worried about?"

"It's going to sound silly…" said Regina, her gaze once more focused on her jeans. "Or like I don't trust her."

Henry frowned. "Well if you don't tell me I won't know."

Regina chuckled. "When did you become so grown up?"

"Someone has to be," he grinned back.

Taking a deep breath, the older brunette nodded, conceding the point. "She's been spending less time here. And when I ask her to come over, she's been saying that she's been busy…" The former Queen trailed off, knowing full well how immature she was sounding.

"You think she doesn't want to spend time with you?" asked Henry, reading between the lines. He frowned, wondering how to answer. On one hand, he didn't want to see his mom upset, but he also knew he had to keep Emma's secret.

Brown eyes full of uncertainty met his own. "Not many people do," she mumbled.

"That was before," said Henry. "Before everyone saw how much you've changed." He paused, reaching over to take one of her hands in his. "Mom, Emma loves spending time over here with you. She way prefers it to Snow's apartment. She's said so."

Regina smiled at the reassurance provided by her son.

"She's probably spending time with Ruby. She's been teasing her saying since you guys were together she barely spends any time with anyone else," he went on, hoping his mother would swallow the half truth.

"Oh," said Regina. It was only fair that Emma got to spend time with her other friends. It wasn't Emma's fault that she didn't have anyone else to be spending her time with besides the blonde and her son.

"Is it finished?" asked Ruby the moment Emma stepped into the diner.

"Geez, Rubes, I thought we said we'd be discrete about this?" hissed Emma, scanning the diner for any sign of Regina, or her mother, who she had decided wouldn't know of her plans until the last possible second, thus reducing the chance of her ruining the surprise, or fainting from excitement, or horror. Emma still wasn't quite sure what her mother's reaction would be.

"But is it?"

"Yes!" hissed the blonde. "I just picked it up." She yelped as she was suddenly grabbed and dragged through to the backroom of the diner.

"Show me!" squealed the she wolf excitedly.

Emma would have sighed and rolled her eyes if she wasn't quite so excited herself. Pulling the small box from her inside jacket pocket, she flipped it open.

"Oh, Emma!" exclaimed the brunette. "It's beautiful." She leaned closer for a better look. "Can I?" she asked, reaching to touch it.

Emma nodded, watching as Ruby removed the glittering band from the box.

"Emma, it's perfect," said Ruby, turning the ring around, taking in the way Emma had had the brass ring Daniel had given Regina incorporated. The brass was now set between a band of platinum and gold, a princess cut diamond sitting proudly atop the tri-colour masterpiece. When the blonde had first shown her the brass ring she intended to be the centre of the piece, Ruby had been unimpressed, but when told the story behind it, she fell completely in love with the idea.

"You think?" asked Emma, taking the ring between her own fingers. She had to admit, the jeweler out of town she had charged with making her badly drawn sketches and ideas in reality couldn't have done a better job if they tried. "I know she wanted to destroy it the night of the party, wanting to move on and all…but I want her to see that I love all of her. I don't want her to feel she has to let go of parts of herself to be with me. Daniel, before he died, was one of the only things to make her happy. I don't want to take that away. I want her to remember those happy times and not feel guilty about doing it." She smiled at the now familiar buzz of the magic of the enchanted forest the rung still held. "And I think she likes the little feeling of home."

"You feel the magic too?" asked Ruby.

Emma nodded. "It doesn't feel like home to me…but she does."