CHAPTER 18

-FB-

"My child and I are leaving. I don't care what you do. But I swear you will never come near either one of us."

Emma knew she was in no position to ask. But for this, she would beg,"It's my baby too Regina. Please let's just talk about this. If you let me - ."

Regina walked straight up to her until they were practically nose to nose, "You will never take another thing from me again. This is my child. And my child only. And we're leaving you and this miserable town to itself," Regina strode away in all her regal glory.

Emma could do nothing but stare after her and cry.

-EFB-

Emma awoke with a start. She wiped her sweaty hair away from her face with a trembling hand.

"Another nightmare?" Emma had only recently been having these nightmares. Before that she had slept peacefully beside her. Or as peaceful as she could be while snoring. "Want to tell me about it?" Regina readjusted their daughter as she wriggled around trying to find a comfortable position for her 2 a.m. feeding.

Emma just shook her head and scooted over closer to Regina. It had been 2 days since they'd left the hospital with their baby secured in the backseat. Everyone was still getting used to the change. But this was one that Emma loved the most. When it was just her, Regina, and the baby late at night. "I told you to wake me up when you get up," she lightly chastised.

"You may have been having a nightmare but you looked pretty peaceful. I wasn't going to disturb you. Anyway, there's no reason for both of us to have our sleep disturbed."

Emma reached out and placed her finger in her daughter's palm. She was instantly calmed as her baby wrapped her tiny digits around it tight. She brought the tiny hand up to her mouth and planted a kiss on the small fist. "I would never be disturbed by this. Besides, why should you get to have all the bonding time. It's bad enough you're the one who does all the breastfeeding. I need to participate in some way."

Regina looked as closely at her girlfriend as she could in the dim light that was coming in from the open bathroom door. Emma had mentioned feeling disconnected from the baby and a fear that she wouldn't feel as if she was her 'real Mother' much the same that Henry had once done to Regina. She frowned, "Emma, you're just as important to this baby as I am. You are her Mother. Breastfeeding and who she came out of doesn't change any of that. And there's definitely no denying where those eyes came from."

Emma was plagued with insecurities and Regina had made it her mission to make sure she understood how important she was to the entire process. During the delivery it was she who had been the first to hold the baby. And while Regina cleaned herself up, rested, and ate Emma barely set her baby daughter down for a second. And it was Emma who'd given her her name. Harlow Jade Swan Mills. Or Lolly as they'd been calling her lately.

Emma grinned as she got lost in the eyes that were a mirror of her own. Harlow had also inherited her dimples. Though she was a few shades lighter than Regina's olive skin tone she still wasn't as pale as Emma. She was glad about that. She loved her daughter's lightly tanned skin. She leaned over and kissed Lolly. Then she kissed Regina. She started to pull back but then she grabbed ahold of the back of her neck and pulled her in for a longer kiss. A kiss that was full of her love, admiration, and hope for their future.

Regina melted into the kiss. It would be a while before they could resume normal activities but she understood that because of Emma's upbringing she needed a lot of reassurances. "I love you," she said as Emma pulled back.

Emma had tears in her eyes as she stared into Regina's chestnut orbs,"I love you too. Please never forget that."

Harlow chose that moment to unlatch. She had buried her fist in Emma's hair and decided now was a good time to give it a good stretching.

"Owww!" Emma yelped as she laughed and tried to dislodge her daughter's hand that was doing its best to twist into a hopelessly tangled knot.

Regina chuckled at them. She brought Harlow's other hand up to her mouth and placed kisses upon it. Lolly became distracted and released Emma's hair as her eyes fought to make out her second Mother through the fog in front of her. "See? She knows you."

"See what? She practically ripped a huge chunk of hair out of my head," Emma continued to nurse her scalp even as she wore a huge grin on her face as she watched her beautiful baby yawn and stretch. She ran a finger along the smooth dark curls being careful around her soft spot.

Regina handed her a diaper. Emma put it over shoulder and clapped her hands a little until Regina handed their daughter over to her to burp. "She never pulls my hair. It's your thing."

"Is that what that is little girl?" Emma cooed to her daughter. "You're letting Mama know that you know she's there?" Emma planted a wet kiss on her daughters head as she lightly patted her back.

Lolly answered by giving a large belch quickly followed by two smaller ones.

Emma grinned proudly.

Regina just rolled her eyes. "If that doesn't prove she's your daughter nothing will."

Emma rose and rocked while she walked over to the crib they'd set up in a corner of their room. Neither one of them were yet ready to leave their daughter alone at night. Instead of settling their daughter down in her bed, Emma instead chose the rocking chair where she sat rocking her daughter and singing softly to her.

Regina watched them sleepily. Her last thoughts before sleep claimed her was that she was the luckiest woman in the world to be able to have such a beautiful family. Though things had been rough there for a while with Henry, he had now adjusted to life post curse without too much trouble. And he had taken almost immediately to his two Moms becoming a couple.

Her final thought before her eyes closed for the night was; Who knew opening her door to a stranger on her step who introduced herself as Henry's real Mother would turn out like this?

XO

Emma laid her baby in her crib. She tucked her in and kissed her sweet head once, then twice, then 5 times for good measure. She tucked her up nice and tight then made her way over to her side of the bed.

She lay awake in bed staring at the ceiling in utter terror. She couldn't shake the feeling that this could have all ended so badly.

~FB~

Henry and Emma walked into the diner shellshocked. Regina had been treating her pretty much the same as she had when they first met for a while. But she had never denied her son anything.

She pushed Henry to the counter to apologize to Granny and Ruby as she made her way on shaky legs over to a booth. She ran her trembling hand through her hair before pulling out a scrunchie so that she could pull it into a ponytail. When she pulled the ponytail holder out of her pocket a card slipped out and fluttered to the ground.

She picked it up and stared at it before remembering who and where she had gotten it from. A small smile broke out on her face as her mind began to hatch a plan.

Henry came back over to the table with two menus, "They accepted my apology. And made me swear never to act that way ever again."

Emma merely nodded at him absently. She was lost deep in her thoughts. She knew that she needed to approach Rumple with the utmost caution. She had to choose her words wisely and be thorough before agreeing to any deals with him.

Henry's thoughts drifted to the state of his family. Emma had developed a habit of not really noticing that he was there for a while now. She pretty much ignored him. When she did talk it was usually venting about Regina.

Neal was okay but he seemed more like a friend than a Father. And with Emma making it obvious that she had no plans in making them a real family he never would be. Henry knew that the day would come soon when Neal would make his way back home. He'd told Henry before they got there that he had a life in New York. And that he just wanted to spend some time getting to know him.

They'd promise phone calls and letters and visits but Henry knew that didn't mean much. He had plenty of friends who had divorced parents. When one parent was out of the picture, they tended to be completely gone.

And now his other Mom was making it obvious that she hated him. He had thought things were bad before the curse with her. And he had been thrilled to dive into his 'real' family and pretend she didn't even exist. He hated when she insisted on talking to him. As far as he had been concerned, she wasn't his Mom. And there was no more use in her pretending that she loved him. He had angrily brushed her off impatiently as she pleaded with him to listen.

It took her not caring about him to open his eyes up to how much she actually did care. Now he realized that all the things he missed were the same things that she had been using to show him that she loved him.

Like helping him with his homework. When he did homework with his Mom learning wasn't boring or tedious. It was always full of fun and laughter. She'd make up funny words to help him to memorize things. And she knew tons of clever shortcuts that they didn't teach you in school for figuring things out.

Or making him warm milk with honey and lavender when he couldn't sleep. Then she'd let him curl up in her bed with her. With her hand stroking his hair and her raspy voice singing softly to him, he'd fall right to sleep. Now he spent hours tossing and turning. And when he did sleep it was to have nightmares of being lost and all alone with no one around to ever save him from the isolation and loneliness. He'd awake from these nightmares sweating away. He'd look over and Emma would either be fast asleep and snoring away or else not there at all. He wasn't sure which was worse.

Ruby came over and took their orders. Emma's head snapped up as she ordered. And as Ruby walked away she turned to him grinning. "Kid, I just got the answer to our problems. We're going to get your Mom back. How would you like that?"

Henry could barely contain his excitement. "But how?!"

"Kid, come on. Remember I'm the savior right? And it's up to me to save this family. And that's exactly what I'm going to do."

Henry wasn't sure what all that meant. But he knew whatever it involved he was all in.

~EFB~