Epilogue
Five Years Later
It was a Saturday afternoon in May and Regina stood at the island in the kitchen of the manor, carefully icing the chocolate cake in front of her with homemade buttercream, coloured lavender.
She heard the pattering of little feet and she looked up just in time to see five year old Henry enter the kitchen, his stuffed rabbit tucked under his arm. It was the same stuffed rabbit that Emma had brought to the manor as a gift just after Regina had adopted Henry. It was a little worse for wear these days. Numerous washes had taken away the softness of its fur, both of its arms had had to be sewn back on, and it had lost one of its glass eyes at some point. But Bunny, as he called the stuffed animal, was Henry's most treasured possession. Now that Henry was in kindergarten, Bunny left the house less often than it used to, but inside the house, Henry almost always had it with him.
"What are we doing?" Henry asked as he bounded over to the island, clamoring up onto one of the kitchen stools. Sitting on his knees on the stool, he flopped Bunny onto the counter and grinned at his mother.
Regina couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face at the way he said we, as if there was no doubt in his mind that whatever was going on in the kitchen, it was something he would get to help with. "Decorating a cake."
"Is it my birthday?" Henry grinned hopefully.
Regina laughed, "Henry, you know it's not your birthday. Your birthday was four months ago."
Henry shrugged, unbothered, bouncing on his knees in the chair, "Can I have cake now."
"No, you may not," Regina shook her head at him and when he pouted she quirked an eyebrow.
The look was enough to keep from asking again but he sighed in the exaggerated way only a five year old could, "But I like cake."
Regina shook her head, "I know you do. But this is a special cake that we're going to have after dinner."
That piqued Henry's curiosity and he bounced in the chair again, "Special? How come it's special?"
Regina smiled, "It's special because it's a special day for mama."
"Her birthday?" Henry guessed excitedly.
Regina laughed, "No, it's not her birthday."
"Oh," Henry shrugged his little shoulders at the answer. "But why is it special?" He asked with wide hazel eyes staring directly at her.
But why. Henry's favourite two words since practically the moment he started speaking. Always so curious about everything. Regina set down the spatula she was holding and moved around the island, stopping beside the stool Henry was perched on. She brushed shaggy brown hair out of his eyes - he really needed a haircut - and smiled at him, "You remember how when you were just a little baby, mama was sick?"
Henry nodded seriously, and then added with just a little too much enthusiasm, "And she had no hair!"
"Yes," Regina chuckled lightly.
Family photos from the period when Emma was sick and Henry was first adopted were the real reason Henry even knew that his other mother had ever been sick. His curiosity about where Emma's hair was in those photos hadn't been sated by the silly answers Emma would come up with (the wind blew it all away, there was an accident with the lawnmower, I lent it to a bald guy who's head was cold) and eventually, after agonizing over the best way to explain without frightening him, they'd sat him down and told him as simply as possible why Emma actually had no hair in those photos.
Henry had responded by flinging his little arms around Emma's neck and pressing a million slobbery kisses to her face until both he and Emma were giggling.
"What was that for?" Emma had asked, when he'd finally stopped. He'd still been in her lap and she'd kissed his cheek.
"Keep you all better now," he'd said with four year old innocence.
Emma had held him a little tighter, kissing his cheek another time, and had confirmed, "I am all better buddy." She'd met Regina's eyes over the little boy's head and Regina hadn't been surprised at all by the glistening she'd seen in green eyes - her own eyes had certainly not been dry.
Regina shook her head, shaking away the memory.
Henry was still looking at her expectantly, waiting for the rest of the answer, and Regina added, "Well today is the anniversary of the day that mama stopped being sick. Do you know what anniversary means?"
Henry's little forehead scrunched up as he thought hard. After a moment he beamed at his mother, "Like a birthday!"
Regina laughed, "Yes, I suppose." Or at least close enough for a five year old's understanding. They actually tended to refer to the day jokingly as Emma's Cancerversary. They usually celebrated quietly though, without much fanfare, just her and Emma. Regina had never made a cake before but this was 5 years and that meant something. Something important. 5 years meant they were now allowed to use the word cured. And she knew that 5 years wasn't a guarantee but it was pretty close, as close as it was ever going to get. Today was a day that Regina had looked forward to for many years. Even just thinking cured made her heart do an ecstatic flip. It was an important milestone that she wasn't just going to let pass by.
Henry grinned wider, "I'm gonna make a card for mama's birthday of not being sick."
"I think that's a great idea," Regina smiled, ruffling his hair as he climbed down off the stool to go and get crayons and paper.
xxxxxx
Henry was seated at the island, scribbling away on his card, his tongue stuck out in concentration, and Regina was just putting the finishing touches on the cake - a light layer of tacky rainbow sprinkles, which had become an odd family custom since that time Emma had made her a birthday cake of brownies, whipped cream, and sprinkles - when Regina heard the front door open and close.
A few minutes later, Emma was stepping into the kitchen, her deputy badge still affixed to her hip. "Hello family," she greeted with a grin.
"Mama!" Henry practically cheered, pushing himself up so that he was now standing on the kitchen stool.
"Henry sit down," Regina ordered.
The request was ignored, Henry choosing instead to fling himself at his other mother as she approached the island.
Emma caught him with ease, lifting him over her head like an airplane and spinning him around and around and around until he was giggling so hard he was gasping for air. She set him back down on the stool carefully, mussing up his hair and kissing his forehead before she said, "Now listen to mommy and sit. You know you're not supposed to stand on chairs."
Henry dropped back into a seated position with a plop.
"How was your shift?" Regina asked. Emma had been a deputy with the Storybrooke sheriff's department for almost four years now, which meant occasional Saturday shifts like today.
"Good," Emma nodded. She patted Henry's head once more and then she moved around the counter. She leaned in, kissing Regina chastely on the lips, but her eyes were distracted by the cake on the counter. "What's this?" she asked, even as she reached forward and swiped a finger through the bowl of leftover buttercream that was still on the counter beside the decorated cake.
"It's a cake," Regina smirked at her, "Do we need to get your eyes checked?"
Emma licked the buttercream off her finger, laughing as she went in for another scoop. She waggled her eyebrows at Henry, "A cake? How did we get so lucky?"
Henry giggled, "Because it's your special day!"
"My special day?" Emma repeated.
"Mmhm," Henry nodded seriously and then he reached forward and grabbed the paper he'd been working on off of the counter, "Look! I made you this."
Emma licked off the latest scoop of icing from her finger and then she reached across the island to take the sheet of paper from Henry. "Oh wow," she said, her fingers tracing the image on the paper - it was three stick fingers clearly meant to represent the three of them with all kinds of hearts drawn around them and the words Happy Not Sick Day scrawled in Henry's five year old block print across the top and Love Henry scrawled on the bottom. "This is great kid," Emma beamed at him.
Henry beamed back, "Mommy helped with the words."
"Oh really," Emma smiled, moving over to the fridge so she could put the picture up with a magnet, shuffling a few things around so that there was room.
"Mmhm," Henry bobbed his head up down.
Emma returned to the island, dipping her finger into the buttercream bowl once more.
Regina swatted at her hand playfully, "You're going to ruin your dinner."
Emma shrugged, "But it tastes good."
"I want some too," Henry chirped from his seat.
Regina quirked a 'look what you've done now' eyebrow at Emma, no words necessary. Henry had enough energy without being fed straight buttercream.
Swallowing her latest scoopful of buttercream, Emma didn't respond to either of them. Instead she suddenly looked green and her hand flew to her stomach. "Uhh…" she groaned out, "be right back," and with that she rushed out of the room.
"Where's mama going?" Henry frowned, his little brow scrunching up.
Regina had pretty good idea where Emma was going. "I think," she told Henry, "that all of that frosting might have upset mama's stomach."
"Oh no," he frowned again with all of the seriousness a five year old could muster.
"It's okay," Regina reassured him, her hand brushing against his shoulder as she rounded the island, "I'll take care of her."
Henry nodded seriously, "Good. You're the best taker carerer."
Regina laughed, "Thank you for the vote of confidence Henry." She kissed the side of his head, telling him, "Stay here and colour another picture," and then left the kitchen to find Emma.
xxxxxx
Regina checked the downstairs bathroom first but didn't find Emma there. She flew up the stairs quickly after that, moving with purpose through the master bedroom into the master bathroom.
Emma was hunched over the toilet and Regina hurried closer, gathering hair that was falling every which way and holding it back with one hand, rubbing Emma's back with the other, as Emma continued to expel the contents of her stomach into the toilet bowl.
When the retching finally diminished to dry heaving and then to nothing Emma righted herself and Regina dropped Emma's hair so that she could retrieve a washcloth.
Regina rinsed the washcloth in the sink with warm water, she also filled a cup they kept on the vanity with a little bit of cold water, and she moved back over to where Emma was now sitting with her back against the wall. Regina handed Emma the washcloth, still holding onto the cup as she slid down the wall to sit beside Emma.
Emma wiped her face carefully with the warm washcloth and then she traded the washcloth for the cup of water Regina was holding.
Regina reached up to tuck a piece of a stray blonde hair behind Emma's ear. It had taken the better part of three years for it to grow to be shoulder length but Emma's hair was now very close to the way it had been when they'd first met - even if it had grown back thinner and curlier and a light brown colour that Emma complained about constantly. Around the one year mark, Regina had dragged her to a salon to have it highlighted blonde, something that Emma had kept up with since.
"Better?" Regina asked once Emma had finished swishing around and swallowing the mouthful of water she'd taken.
"Mmhm," Emma nodded, setting the cup down beside her on the floor. She rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes, "You know...It's kind of ridiculous that I made it through six months of chemo without puking once...and now...that's the third time I've been sick today…" Emma sighed softly, her eyes fluttering back open and a hand resting gently, almost protectively, against her abdomen.
Regina set a hand on Emma's knee, "I'm sorry."
Emma shook her head, looking over at Regina, "Don't be sorry. I'm not sorry." The hand on her abdomen rubbed slow circles, "Little pea is worth it…" she smirked slowly, "and someday I'm just going to hold all of this puking over little pea's head."
Regina laughed lightly, her heart doing the happy fluttering thing it always did whenever Emma said little pea. She leaned over and kissed Emma's cheek, her hand moving from Emma's knee to rest on top of the hand covering Emma's abdomen, "I still can't believe that this is actually happening," Regina murmured.
Emma smiled wistfully, bright green eyes shining with emotion, "I know."
Emma had stayed in menopause for six months following the end of her chemo treatments and, even then, they hadn't really been sure about the status of her fertility. It was something that they hadn't talked about for the first few years. Not when the possibility of a relapse was still looming, still too terrifying, to consider expanding their family, especially not in a way that could potentially leave them with an impossible decision to make. But then, time had passed, and their security in Emma's continued status as cancer free had grown, and the night before Henry had started kindergarten, as they laid in bed and reminisced about how their chubby cheeked baby had grown into a school-aged child, Emma had said in an almost a whisper, "What if we have a baby?"
It had taken four tries, and they'd been starting to consider the possibility that it wasn't meant to be, when, just seven weeks ago, Emma had stepped into the bedroom from the bathroom, her hands shaking as she'd held out the positive pregnancy test for Regina to see. Regina had been so happy that she'd cried.
They hadn't told anyone else their good news yet, not even Henry. They wanted to wait a few more weeks to be sure before they told everyone.
Regina kissed Emma's cheek again, "Ready to get up? I'm getting much too old for sitting on bathroom floors."
"Oh yes. You're ancient," Emma said sarcastically with an eye roll, laughing as Regina shoved her shoulder.
Regina stood with a groan and then helped Emma up off of the floor, who moved over to the sink to brush her teeth.
Emma ran a hand through her hair, as they stepped into the bedroom, "I'm just going to change out of these work clothes."
Regina nodded, deciding to wait for Emma instead of heading immediately downstairs. She moved over to sit on the edge of their bed as Emma unclipped her deputy badge and set it on the dresser. Emma tugged her shirt over her head and disappeared into the walk in closet.
While she waited, Regina fiddled with her wedding rings, twisting them around, thinking about how she couldn't believe that it had been almost four years ago now that they'd gotten engaged. That day, the day of one of Emma's post-chemo checkups, Regina hadn't suspected a thing. Emma had been so clearly nervous all morning but Regina had chalked that up to nerves about going to the cancer centre - Emma didn't like to talk about it much but Regina knew that, even now, setting foot in that building made her uneasy.
In the elevator on the way up to the hematology clinic, Emma had kissed her, but even that hadn't made Regina suspicious - they often kissed in elevators when they were alone, it was kind of their thing ever since that time Emma had said that it was the way to get someone to love you forever. Actually, what should have been suspicious was that the kiss had been short.
Emma had pulled back long before the elevator had reached the hematology clinic floor, resting her forehead against Regina's and saying, "Have I said thank you? For this?"
"For what?" Regina had asked.
Emma's expression had been soft and wistful, her eyes shimmering with emotion, "For giving me some of my favourite memories in a place that would otherwise contain nothing but a bunch of my worst."
"You don't have to thank me for that," Regina had smiled, their foreheads still pressed together.
Emma had just stared at her a long moment and then had said, "Marry me."
"Okay," Regina had agreed easily. She hadn't realized it was a real, planned, proposal though until Emma had pulled the ring out of her pocket.
The elevator doors had dinged open then and Regina had reached over and slammed the closed button without so much as a second thought, kissing Emma deeply before the doors had even finished reclosing.
They'd been married four months later at town hall with year-and-a-half old Henry as their tiny ring bearer. Emma had been beautiful in a delicate lace dress with a crown of flowers in her short hair. Regina had worn her own hair piled atop her head with tendrils of curls spilling out to frame her face. The updo had complimented the low swooping back of the dress she'd chosen perfectly - Emma had been rather appreciative of her choice. They'd put Henry in the most adorable three piece suite Regina had ever seen. Pictures from their wedding day still remained among Regina's favourites of the three of them.
The reception had been in their own backyard, hundreds of twinkling lights crisscrossing overhead and a dozen lanterns transforming it into something magical. It had been an intimate affair - there had only been a handful of guests - Kathryn and Frederick, Granny and Ruby and Ruby's girlfriend Dorothy, August, Barbara, a friend Emma had made at the Sheriff's department and his wife, and Regina's mother.
Regina hadn't been sure about inviting her mother, even though by that point things between them had been patched. Regina had never been great at forgiveness, she'd always been much better at holding grudges - she'd been fully prepared to cut her mother out of her life after she'd found out about the things Cora had said to Emma. Emma though, sweet Emma, had seen things differently. Emma who'd had so little love in her life, and no family before them, had been adamant that cutting Cora out was not the answer, not when Emma had been so sure that Cora's actions, albeit inappropriate and misguided, had been born out of her love for Regina. Regina had conceded because it had been, and still was, impossible to say no to Emma when she looked at her a certain way. Regina had worried about the wedding though. Worried that her mother would pull something. Worried that her mother was incapable of not meddling. But, in the end, Cora had been impeccably behaved. She'd even made a toast at dinner. Had sounded oddly sincere when she'd said she was thrilled to have Emma as a daughter in law and that she was so proud of Regina and the beautiful family she'd created. Lately Cora had even given up pestering Regina about running for congress. Maybe later in life Regina would re-entertain the possibility but, for now, Regina was content as mayor of Storybrooke and as wife and mother.
"Hey."
Emma's voice startled Regina out of her thoughts. She was surprised to find her wife standing right in front of her, dressed in clean clothes.
"What are you thinking about so hard?" Emma smiled at her.
Regina smiled slowly, "About how happy I am that you're my wife."
Emma lifted her eyebrows, "Oh really?"
"Yes," Regina nodded seriously, the smile still tugging at the corners of her mouth.
Emma moved even closer, leaning down and cupping both of Regina's cheeks with her hands, crashing their lips together.
Regina moaned into the kiss, reaching up and looping her arms around Emma's neck, tugging gently until Emma got the hint and pushed Regina back onto the bed, climbing up beside her, barely breaking their kiss as they shuffled backwards towards the head of the bed, lying side by side, their bodies pressing tight to each other, legs tangled together.
After several minutes, Emma pulled back, breathless, her forehead resting against Regina's as her lungs struggled to take in air. Green eyes stared directly into brown ones and Emma murmured so soft and so reverently, "I love you."
"I love you," Regina repeated back to her, one hand stroking Emma's cheek gently, a fond smile tugging at her lips.
"Can you believe that five years ago we were sitting in a cancer centre?" Emma shook her head without pulling her forehead away from Regina's, looking truly disbelieving.
"Sometimes it feels like yesterday. Sometimes it feels like a lifetime ago," Regina said seriously.
"Yeah," Emma agreed pensively.
Regina stroked Emma's cheek gently again. After a beat of silence, she offered softly, "Happy cure day, darling."
"Cure day," Emma repeated quietly, still sounding almost disbelieving but she smiled so softly, her eyes shimmering with so much emotion and so much happiness.
Emma pulled back just enough so that she could kiss Regina gently, and then not so gently as one hand tangled into dark hair and the other slipped under Regina's shirt. The upward path of Emma's hand was interrupted though, it's movement stilled by the sound of a soft voice coming from the hallway.
"Mommy? Mama?"
Emma pulled her hand out from under Regina's shirt, kissing Regina's cheek and whispering, "later," in her ear like a promise, and then sat up on the bed, straightening her shirt and running a hand through her hair. She watched Regina do the same before she called out, "What's up monkey?"
Henry pushed the partially closed bedroom door open and bounded into the room, stopping at the edge of the bed, looking up at his mother's with wide eyes. His eyes settled on Emma, "You okay mama?"
Emma smiled gently at him, "Yeah," she nodded, reaching down to help him climb up onto the bed.
He clamored up, settling between his mother, his little body fit snugly between them. "You were taking forever to come back," he sighed exaggeratedly with all of the seriousness of a five year old.
Emma chuckled lightly, ruffling his hair, "Sorry buddy."
"It's okay," Henry said seriously.
"What a relief," Emma said faux-seriously, smacking a wet sloppy kiss to his cheek.
"Mama!" he shrieked, giggling as he wiped at his cheek with the back of his hand.
"What?" Emma waggled her eyebrows at him, "You don't like kisses?"
"Not kisses like that mama," he said, half-giggling, half-exasperated.
"Like what?" Emma feigned a lack of understanding, meeting Regina's amused eyes over the top of Henry's head momentarily, before she pressed another slobbery kiss to Henry's cheek, "Like that?"
"Mama!" Henry cried out, trying to squirm away from her but not getting very far since Regina was on his other side, preventing his escape and allowing Emma to press yet another kiss to his face. "Mommy," he looked to Regina for help then, "Make mama stop it."
Regina barely managed to keep a straight face as she said, "Stop what?" and leaned over to press a slobbery kiss to the cheek nearest her, "Stop that?"
"Mommy!" Henry shrieked and then he was being attacked from both sides. Kisses pressed to every inch of his face and hands tickling his sides and he just giggled and giggled and giggled.
Emma was laughing too, the sound mixing with Henry's giggles and Regina couldn't help but think it sounded like music to her ears.
This was her family. The family she'd never even imagined could come from a volunteer position she'd taken what sometimes seemed like a lifetime ago.
She was so lucky. They were so lucky.