CHAPTER 3

Emma steeled herself and faced her parents defiantly. "I'm fixing the mess that you both created when you lied to me."

"Emma, we only did that to protect you and Henry. But going to Gold. And tampering with Regina's mind. Emma that's - ," David couldn't even find the words to describe it.

"I know that she's happy. And so is Henry. And it's not hurting anyone. I told you, this is my life and I'm tired of you two trying to control it."

"At what price Emma? And for how long? You expect to keep this charade up forever?"

"It's not a charade. I love Regina. And if you two hadn't stuck your noses into where it wasn't wanted and didn't belong, things wouldn't have turned out like this."

"Emma, you don't know what would've happened. Regina made herself perfectly clear to you and Henry when she packed up Henry's things and sent them over to you. But this Emma, this is - ."

Emma really was sick and tired of them treating her as if she was a small child. She had survived in the world for almost 29 years without them. And twice they'd taken the things she loved and wanted most from her. First when they sent her away as an infant so that she could save them. And second when they lied to her and almost cost her Regina and her baby. "This is me doing what I needed to do for my family. That's me, Regina, Henry, and our baby. If you two still want to be a part of that then there's going to have to be a lot of changes first. Which start by accepting that this is what's going on. And Regina is my true love. And this is done." Emma turned and stomped away.

She walked over to Regina's room and rested her head against the door. She took a deep breath before walking in. When she opened the door what she found made her breath hitch. Henry was in the bed cuddled up beside Regina. They both were wearing the biggest smiles.

Emma walked over to her family. Regina smiled up at her. Tears came to Emma's eyes as she bent and kissed her. This was her happy ending.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXOXOXOXXOXOXOXXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXO

Emma went back to Regina's car and transferred all the boxes and suitcases to her own. She had it towed to a garage and asked them to please do all they could to fix it. She only felt slightly guilty for playing the Savior card.

She went into the mansion and began putting everything back where she thought it should be. She really needed to get Henry over here so that he could help make sure everything was just the way Regina normally left it.

She ordered a moving truck to bring back the boxes and furniture that Regina had had sent over to her and Henry while she had been in the midst of making her plans to leave. Thankfully they had never really unpacked anything. Once more her savior status worked in her favor and the moving company said that they could bring it all over within the next couple of hours.

Emma swept the house twice making sure everything was as it had been before Regina had packed her things to leave. She really should've had Gold include all these details in their deal. The last thing she needed was for Regina to be tipped off by something being out of place.

She sat and waited for the moving truck to show up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Henry couldn't keep the grin off his face. He had his Mom back. And it was almost like old times.

When Emma had first told him the plan, he had immediately jumped aboard. He had missed his Mom. And receiving everything that had been in his bedroom at home had broken his heart.

Now, he began to fill her in on all the latest news. "And I got a B plus on the test. I studied really hard."

Regina smiled at her boy. The two of them had had a rocky road. But thankfully they'd come a long way. "Well, I think maybe that calls for a special treat. When I get home tomorrow, we'll have to figure something out." A B wasn't that much to get excited about but Henry had always struggled in Math. It was his worst subject. So for her it might as well have been an A plus.

She had a little bit of a hard time because she didn't really remember them discussing a math test but she put it down to the car accident. There seemed to be a lot of hazy spots in her memory.

Emma strolled in with an overnight bag. It was full of toiletries, a robe, slippers, and other miscellaneous items. She walked over to Regina and gave her a quick peck. Emma was glad to see Henry smile at them. He had taken the two of them being together a little hard at first but he'd eventually come around when Emma admitted that she'd had a thing for his Mom for a while now and that her parents had kept the truth hidden from them. "How are you?"

Regina hesitated slightly before answering with an, "I'm good," She smiled at her. But Emma could see that it was a little forced. She unzipped the overnight bag she'd just brought in. As soon as she did the smell of Granny's wafted up to Regina's nose and now her grin was a real one. "Mmmmm…," she inhaled then reached greedily for it.

Emma held it out of her reach. "I'm not sure you've earned this. You know you did give us quite a scare."

Regina narrowed her eyes then pulled Emma to her by grabbing a handful of her shirt. Emma pretended to protest then she caved and moved into her arms. She let Regina drag her down for a deeper kiss.

"Get a room!" Henry said from on the other side of Regina. He used the opportunity of their attention being on each other to snitch the bag from Emma. He started to open it when Emma grabbed it back. "Ma? I'm a growing boy. You can't starve me!"

Emma pulled out her wallet. She took out a few bills and handed them to Henry. "We need some drinks. There's a machine in the waiting room."

Henry took the bills and ran from the room. Emma turned to Regina. "So what's up?" At Regina's puzzled frown, she continued, "when I asked you how you were feeling you hesitated."

"Oh. I was going to tell you but I didn't want to alarm Henry. There seems to be a few gaps in my memory. He keeps talking about some things that I can't seem to recall."

Emma gulped and tried not to look guilty. "Well you know it was a car accident. I'm sure it's nothing important. We'll talk to the doctor about it. But I'm sure it's nothing." She knew she was babbling but she was going to need to speak with Gold asap. This hadn't been what he'd promised her.

"It's fine dear. I'm sure you're right and it's absolutely nothing. Now, me and this little doodle here need to eat." She grabbed the bag from Emma's hand.

Emma had gotten them all burgers and fries. She'd noticed that Regina's eating habits had changed since the morning sickness had passed. She had actually seen her scarf down a burger at Granny's on more than one occasion.

Regina doctored hers up with ketchup and mustard then took a big bite. She closed her mouth savoring the flavor. "Mmmm. This makes everything better."

Emma grinned while handing over the fries. "So now you're a beef eater?" she teased.

"I don't know what's gotten into me," Regina answered with a sheepish grin. "It's the baby's fault."

"Way to blame it on an unborn child," they both laughed together.

Henry walked back in with their drinks. Emma sat around with her family sharing a nice meal. She felt a little sad that this was the first one that they'd actually shared in a long time but Regina didn't know that. She thought back to how different things were now compared to a week ago.

FLASHBACK

"Regina wait," Emma called as she followed behind her. She turned to Henry and uttered, "Wait there," before she chased after the godforsaken woman. She was out of breath by the time she caught up to her. "I think what you did was really crappy. Henry's been upset ever since he received your little farewell package."

Regina never stopped nor slowed on her way back to her car. "I thought I'd made it perfectly clear that I don't care what you think about anything." They'd reached her car. She went to grab the handle and Emma stepped in between it and her.

"I know you're angry with me. About everything. But don't take it out on Henry. We have two kids to think about now -," Emma tried explaining hoping to get through to her.

"And whose fault is that?!" Regina roared. She shoved Emma out of the way and opened her door. She stepped inside giving Emma one of her patented death glares the entire way.

Emma was too ashamed to meet her eyes. She swallowed hard as she averted her face. She stepped back quickly when Regina made it clear she was going to be moving out whether she moved or not. She walked slowly back over to Henry.

He hadn't moved. He wasn't crying but Emma could see the red rings around his eyes letting her know that tears weren't far off. It wasn't easier to meet her son's eyes after this either. She bent down to his level and looked him in the eyes. "I'm going to make this right Henry. I promise. We're going to get your Mom back."

Henry shook his head and walked around her into Granny's. Emma stood there feeling like a failure. Her own son who believed her to be the Savior who could do anything no longer had faith in her. She wasn't sure she did either.