"Okay, three tickets to the Justin Bieber laser light show!" Emma sauntered away from the Boston Science Museum's ticket counter and tapped the tickets against the back of her hand.
"Justin Bieber? No!" Henry whined, "Ma, you were supposed to get tickets for the planetarium."
"Just kidding," Emma leaned forward and ruffled her son's hair as she stole a mischievous glance at Regina. "Come on, it's your birthday and we came all this way to see stars."
"Yes, stars that we could have just as easily viewed from the comfort of the clock tower through the telescope I bought you," Regina rolled her eyes. Traveling made her nervous, but it was Henry's birthday and all he wanted was a trip to the planetarium. He'd recently discovered all things aliens, and stars. Regina secretly hoped he'd want to study astrophysics, or at least work on getting his science grade up.
"I know, blame me. I shouldn't have got him started on the X-files," Emma laughed as they walked through the nearly deserted museum, reading the signs as they went to find the planetarium.
"He's too young to watch such a scary show," Regina chastised, but didn't really mean it. She had also enjoyed the episodes she'd watched with Henry and Emma. "Henry, we've been sending signals out into space and all we've received back in radio silence. What makes you so sure there is life on other planets?"
They entered the dimly lit planetarium and took their seats. Henry sat in between his moms as they waited for the show to start.
"The universe is huge. There's so much we don't know," Henry wiggled in his seat from excitement.
"What makes you so sure there's not life out there? Don't be such a 'Scully,' Regina," Emma smiled easily, and it made Regina boundlessly happy that she could banter so easily with her and their son.
"You know people think that aliens maybe came here billions of years ago and spread these old balls around the earth."
"Old balls?" Regina questioned with a tone of distaste, while Emma chuckled.
"Yeah, like these metal balls that maybe held microbes to terraform the earth and make it habitable for life. It's the same thing we plan to do to Mars. It's so cool."
The planetarium was quite impressive with a huge Omni max screen that filled with stars, planets, as the guide started the 'Explore: The Universe' show. Regina thought it was informative and beautiful, but something about seeing the vast infinite galaxies made her inexplicably sad.
By the end of the presentation Henry's thirst for more information was palpable. The announcer offered an invitation for anyone who wanted to look at the stars from the observatory there would be astronomers to point things out. It was a clear night and the stars were bright.
"Go on, kid," Emma could feel Henry's energy, and let him run ahead to get up to the observatory. "We'll be right there, in a minute."
When he nodded and bounded off with the rest of the audience Emma slid over and took his seat to be closer to Regina. She cleared her throat when the planetarium was empty and the night sky was projected overhead, "Hey, what's wrong?"
Regina shook her head and swallowed, but Emma took her hand in her reassuringly and leaned closer. She asked softly, "It puts thing in perspective, is that is?"
Taking a deep breath and chancing a glance at Emma, Regina found her expression open and accepting. She felt safe, but she looked down when she started to speak not trusting her words.
"I-when I was first sent to live at King Leopold's castle, I used to sit out on my balcony every night for hours on end. Sometimes I'd sit out all night and look at the stars, and just wish that things could be different."
Emma nodded almost imperceptibly, understanding the memory that the show had evoked. She sweetly touched a finger to Regina's chin, lifting her gently to look in her eyes. Regina parted her lips in surprise to find Emma's eyes were tear-shined in the dark quiet room. "I used to make a lot of wishes too, and one day, when I felt most alone, my wish actually came true."
Regina gave her a watery smile and tilted her head into Emma's touch, "There's so much out there: stars they live, die, expand, and become black holes…"
"Go supernova," Emma added and brushed Regina's hair behind her ear lovingly. "Thing is we only have this one brief millisecond to spend…"
"A lifetime," Regina agreed.
"Yes," Emma breathed out in a sigh, she examined Regina's face intently, stroking her cheek with her thumb affectionately. "Right here, right now, we're relatively young…"
"We've got our son, and of all the people in this world and the others, I feel fortunate that our paths crossed in this lifetime," Regina inhaled through her nose and closed her eyes, feeling fragile and vulnerable, but safe, always safe with Emma.
"I have to say I feel pretty happy about it too," Emma admitted sheepishly as if she was forbidden to say the cursed 'H' word. She bridged the small gap between them and met no resistance when she kissed her. Her lips were light but thorough as she felt the kiss returned under the ever romantic blanket of infinite stars.
Regina pulled back and rested her forehead comfortably against Emma's strengthening their connection.
"Me too," she whispered, and truly meant it.