A/N: Thanks for the lovely response to this story. I'm sorry for the long delay in updating; I've been quite busy! One more chapter to go after this.
It's cold and rainy and despite still being August only 53 degrees outside. The smell of cinnamon and cardamom fills the air as Emma sits on her perch by the kitchen island watching Regina work.
Regina presses a steaming cup of chai into Emma's hands. "Something to keep you occupied while you wait for breakfast."
"I'm not a child," Emma insists before she takes a sip of the milky tea.
"Of course not dear," Regina says with a grin. Emma knows that she should protest the patronizing tone, but she can't bring herself to feel much besides content right now.
"It feels like fall," Emma says inhaling the richly scented tea. "When are your apples going to be ripe? It isn't fall until I have apple pie and apple cider donuts. Oh and apple crisp. Do you have a good crisp recipe?"
Regina looks at Emma utterly confused. Last time Regina had offered Emma an apple filled desert it had been poisoned.
"What?" Emma asks. "I love apple pie, and it's going to take a little more than some poison to scare me off."
Regina's chest aches with the words of forgiveness – forgiveness that she knows she doesn't deserve. "I'm sorry," she whispers. She had been so lost then and so desperate, spiraling further and further out of control in a way she hadn't since leaving the Enchanted Forest.
Emma nods in acknowledgment, and somehow it doesn't feel frightening that the woman she goes to bed with at night is the same one who tried to curse her. Emma can sense the change in Regina. "You can make it up to me with delicious, non-toxic pie."
Regina laughs and grins at Emma. Change and forgiveness are difficult and complicated issues for Regina, and the more she thinks about them the more she suspects that it's time to apologize to Archie and inquire whether his couch is still available. Regina can see that she's being given a chance to move forward and be happy, and even though everything in Regina is screaming in fear at the prospect, she decides to seize the opportunity. "The apples should be ready in a couple of weeks, and I will be happy to make as many apple themed deserts as you would like."
Henry bounds down the stairs then, stilled dressed in his pajamas with his hair a mess. Emma watches Regina smile at their son – so filled with love and pride -
and in this moment things feel perfect. But fear pulls at Emma, because this is everything that she dreamed of from the time she was a small child: a family, love. She has learned not to trust the promise of a family, because every time she had come close it had been ripped away from her. And this feels far too good to be real. Emma nearly stands up and leaves this room filled with people who love her, but then Regina must see her panicking, because there is suddenly a calming hand on Emma's cheek and Emma feels like for the first time in her life someone understands her fears and her weaknesses and is willing to ride them out with her. She reaches up and covers Regina's hand with her own.
Regina stares at Emma with love and acceptance, and in that moment Emma promises herself that she won't leave, that she won't run from this simply because it frightens her.
"Morning kid," Emma says as Henry sits down on the chair next to her.
"Morning," Henry replies as he grabs a banana from the fruit bowl in front of him.
"I'm making a frittata," Regina tells her son. "It's almost ready to go in the oven."
"Do you want help?"
"That's ok, sweetheart. I'm almost done."
"Ok," Henry says, taking another bite of his banana. He stares down at the sheet of papers he left on the kitchen island the night before: his class schedule and a map of the middle school.
Henry is still staring at the paper a few minutes later when Regina puts the frittata in the oven. "Do you want to go through it one more time?" she asks with a smile, trying to assure him that it's all right to be anxious.
"We don't have to," Henry says, looking down at the map in embarrassment. They visited the school yesterday and walked to all his classes. If he gets lost he can ask for help. But the nervousness in the pit of his stomach won't go away.
"It helps me to feel prepared for new experiences too," Regina says, standing behind Henry and running a hand through his hair. She remembers his first day of kindergarten, how he had been such a fearless little boy ready for the next adventure.
"Ok," Henry says looking down at the schedule. "First period I have math. That's in B hall."
"Mmhmm," Regina confirms peering at the schedule. She has practically memorized it herself after they had repeatedly rehearsed the previous night.
"Second period is chemistry," Henry scrunches up his nose at that.
"I second that," Emma says causing Henry to laugh.
"I don't want to hear any negativity before the school year even starts," Regina tells both of them.
Emma rolls her eyes and offers a droll, "Yes Mom."
"Chemistry is quite interesting," Regina insists.
Henry speaks from his seat between his mothers: "You just like it because it's like magic, and you're good at magic."
Regina is taken aback, because Henry only mentions her using magic when he accuses her of being evil. But she looks at her son now, and he's smiling teasingly up at her. Regina smiles nervously back at Henry who seems oblivious to the weight of the moment.
But Emma doesn't miss the way Regina swallows around the lump in her throat as Henry continues to recite his schedule. Emma watches as Regina leans forward, wrapping a protective arm around Henry as he chatters on about how excited he is for history class. Emma reaches out and settles her hand on Regina's back.
Regina's heart flutters nervously. She has her son and she someone who loves her; it's everything that Regina has longed for since she was a small child staring up at the sky and wishing that she had a fairy god mother to bring her what her heart desired.
Love. She feels it now so strongly that it seems to obscure the pain and the hate. So strongly that all Regina can do is accept it.