A/N: Thank you all so much for reading, adding this story to your follows and favorites, and for all the reviews. Your feedback has been amazing before, during, and hopefully maybe after this fic. So really, thank you!
I also can't remember if I've mentioned it here before, but this is a collab with swanqueentfln on Tumblr. Go to that blog and you'll find the TFLN pics that go along with each of the three chapters of this fic.
A little heads up that this chapter is extremely fluffy, but I hope you'll like it as much as you've all seemed to enjoy the previous two chapters.
Morning light hit Emma's face and she scrunched up her nose and brow before she couldn't avoid waking up anymore. She opened her eyes and looked around with uncertainty. She was naked and alone in a bed she didn't recognize and was far too soft for her liking. Confused, she sat up and pulled the bedsheets up to her chest to cover more of herself. As her eyes scanned the room, the events of the previous night came back to her and made her smile.
"I do hope you're thinking of me, dear," she heard Regina's sultry voice from across the room. Her smile brightened when she saw the brunette in a silky black robe that left very little to the imagination. Not that Emma needed to use imagination to picture Regina naked. She'd seen it all for herself all night long.
"I'll let you in on a little secret," Emma told her. "I'm always thinking of you."
Regina grinned and sauntered across the room toward the bed. As Emma leaned back against the headboard, she pulled the sheets up with her but let her eyes wander over Regina's nicely displayed body. Since she wasn't at all subtle about her ogling, Regina's grin spread wider and she effortlessly untied her robe with a graceful and quick movement of her hand.
As the robe slipped open, Regina brought her other hand up to her mouth and Emma realized she'd brought an apple back to the bedchamber with her. Emma licked her lips as she watched Regina bite into the ripe, red fruit and in no time at all, a line of juice dribbled down her chin. The brunette didn't even bother to wipe it off and instead continued to chew before she took another bite, which then produced the same effect. More juice flowed down her chin and further down her body as it dripped down her throat and stopped at her collarbone. Emma's eyes darkened and dilated while her lips parted and her breath hitched.
"Is there a problem," Regina asked as she stopped beside the bed. She didn't sit down and instead chose to remain standing while her robe gaped open and clung to her breasts just enough to keep her nipples hidden beneath the partially transparent fabric. The sides of the robe framed a tantalizing trail from her chest to her sex and allowed Emma to blatantly follow it from the valley between Regina's breasts down to her navel and further more to the patch of dark curls between extremely appealing thighs.
"No problem whatsoever," Emma answered as her eyes locked on Regina's sex and refused to look away. "Unless you don't come over here right now."
She met Regina's gaze just a moment before the brunette placed a knee on the bed and crawled toward her. The apple remained in the Queen's hand as she came closer, but Emma's focus was on Regina's eyes. The look in the woman's chocolate brown gaze was as playful as it was predatory and it was all for her. Emma knew it. Regina knew it. All that could have made the moment better was if the entire world knew it. That and if the Regina in her world felt the same way.
She didn't need to worry about that, however, because the Regina in front of her wanted her and felt at least just as strongly about her as Emma did. Even if what they felt was slightly different emotionally, Emma knew the Queen didn't want her to leave and that was enough.
"How may I help you, dear," Regina asked as she settled on her knees beside her.
Emma didn't answer with words and instead leaned forward while she gently grabbed the hand that held the apple. She trailed her fingers over the veins in Regina's wrist and forearm and slowly licked her way up the other woman's throat until she reached sticky sweet and succulent lips. She tasted apple along the way, the juice cleaned off Regina with the use of her tongue, and she sucked the Queen's bottom lip into her mouth to savor it.
"Delicious," she whispered in Regina's ear.
Regina quietly hummed in response before they slowly pulled away just far enough to look at each other. The brunette brought the apple back to her lips and took another bite larger than the first. Her eyes crinkled with amusement and mischief while her lips curled into a bright smirk even as she chewed. The juice from the apple made a similar path down her chin and throat and Emma watched its descent with rapt attention.
"You missed a spot," Regina informed her once she swallowed.
Emma grinned and leaned in again. She didn't hesitate to repeat her actions and licked Regina clean from collarbone to mouth. The second time around she applied more pressure, but moved just as slowly.
Regina placed a hand on her on her shoulder when Emma felt her fall forward and tip her head back to expose more of her own neck.
Emma slid her hands up Regina's stomach and under the robe to feel the woman's breasts. Her thumbs grazed the brunette's nipples and they instantly stiffened under her touch.
Regina contentedly sighed and arched into her touch before she pulled one of the sleeves of her robe off her shoulder. She dropped the apple onto the bed and tangled her hand in long, white-blonde hair. Emma was held close, but she didn't stay in place.
Emma kissed her way to Regina's shoulder and peppered kisses along the bared skin. She kneaded one of the brunette's breasts and moved her other hand to the Queen's covered shoulder. She cupped the side of her neck and threaded her fingers through silky tresses. Emma placed careful bites to Regina's shoulder and trailed them up to the woman's throat. She bit down a little harder in all the sensitive places and earned herself a melodic flow of moans from the other woman.
"You're incredible," Emma purred as she nuzzled her nose against the woman's earlobe.
"We've barely even begun this morning," Regina chuckled.
"Mm. I'm not just talking about the sex," she said against the Queen's skin on her way from Regina's neck to her chest. She moved her hand to just below the other woman's breast and replaced it with her mouth on and around a pert nipple.
Regina let out a breathy moan and straightened her back as she pushed her chest further toward Emma. She ran her other hand through Emma's hair and moved the hand previously in her hair down her back. She scratched her nails up and down fair skin and every time Emma swirled her tongue, the hand on her back cupped the back of the younger woman's neck to keep her exactly where she was.
Emma pulled Regina into her lap and the brunette didn't hesitate to wrap a leg around her. The other woman burrowed her foot between her and the pillows and tangled up with her.
"Do you really mean that," Regina asked.
"Hmm?" Emma let her fingers wander down Regina's spine.
"Do you really...think I'm incredible?"
Emma's hand teased the top of Regina's ass as her fingers made light patterns over her skin beneath the robe. She smiled at Regina and scooped the Queen into her arms before she set her down on her back and laid on top of her.
"Yes. I meant it. And I think you're the only person able to tell when I'm lying," Emma answered.
Regina wrapped both legs around her waist and chuckled. She threw her arms around Emma's neck and enjoyed their proximity if the smile on her face was any indication of how she felt about their position.
"Am I lying, Regina," she asked and brushed a few strands of hair out of the other woman's face.
Regina's smile faded and her expression became heavy with emotion and vulnerability. She took a deep breath before she replied, "No."
Emma dipped her head and started to kiss Regina's shoulder again. She pressed thousands of tiny kisses down to and along her clavicle and she flicked her tongue over the hollow of Regina's throat. Regina's chest heaved with a gasp and Emma moved lower, lower, lower. Her tongue circled Regina's navel before she nipped the skin just above it and she massaged Regina's sides with her hands as if to warm the Queen up in chilly weather.
Regina arched into her touch, but Emma slid back up her body and slowly kissed her like they had all the time in the world. The kiss was deep and intense, so full of many things Emma didn't dare to say. She kept her hands moving along Regina's body both under the robe and on the expanse of bare skin between them.
She pushed the last remaining sleeve of Regina's robe down the other woman's arm and traced a few patterns on her bicep once it was exposed. When she pulled her lips away from Regina's, she watched herself draw invisible patterns on olive skin before the brunette spoke again.
"Do you love me?"
Then it was Emma's cue to gasp, but only because she inhaled a little too quickly as she struggled to find the right words. She struggled to find any words. It wasn't because she didn't have plenty to say because she did, but what she had to say was too much. She had confessions, not words.
"Do you love me," Regina repeated the question, but that time her voice was just a whisper. It was like she already knew the answer, or she was afraid of it.
"I—" she briefly stopped herself as she chose her words as carefully as possible when looking into those big, beautiful eyes. "If you could see yourself…the way I see you, you wouldn't have to ask."
"And…how do you see me?"
Emma sighed as her lips curled into a smile. She momentarily bowed her head and shook it before she looked into Regina's eyes again. "I see you as the same stubborn, attractive, complicated, unique woman I have since the day we met. The same incredible woman I want to know…for the rest of my life."
To say she could speak carefully when looking into Regina's eyes was a lie. Emma dared any fool to try because they would fail just as she had. Maybe worse. Hopefully worse.
Regina ran her hands down Emma's arms and let her eyes roam over Emma's nude form, the sheets bunched up at her waist and thighs and hardly an obstacle for her deep gaze. She would have been able to see everything if she didn't have her legs wrapped around the other woman. Her lips slowly curved into a smile before she cupped the back of Emma's neck and pulled her down for a heated kiss. She arched into Emma and allowed herself to melt into the woman that had surprised her so many times in just a single night.
Emma clawed at Regina's robe and pulled the woman's arms out of the sleeves as they continued to kiss. The robe remained beneath the Queen's body, but Emma tugged the sheets away from them so their skin touched directly. It felt as glorious as it had the previous night and again Emma wanted more.
She slid her hand up to Regina's breast and squeezed. Her fingers brushed over an already hardened nipple before she let them glide over Regina's neck. Her fingertips added a little pressure wherever they moved and Regina squirmed under her.
As their tongues slid together, Regina ran her hands down Emma's arms until she dug her nails into her skin closer to her elbows. She tipped her head back and ended the kiss to gasp and then let out a small moan.
"Love me," the Queen softly demanded.
Emma bit her lip and stared down at Regina before she said, "I thought you knew. I already do."
Finally, it was out. She had revealed herself and her feelings to Regina. It wasn't in the right or world or in the right time, but she'd done it. At least one part, one version of the other woman, knew. What Emma didn't know was that her Regina, present-day Regina, had heard her.
Through the mirror across the room, Regina had a perfect view of Emma and herself in bed from her house in Storybrooke. Her mouth hung open in shock and she stepped closer to the mirror as her eyes scanned over the scene on display in front of her. She gripped the edge of the end table in front of the mirror and just watched as she—as the Evil Queen—willing allowed Emma to touch her and top her. The Queen never let anyone get on top of her. Not after Leopold. Never after Leopold. But Emma was on her, above her, and after some time she was inside her. She continued to watch as Emma touched her everywhere, again and again.
She heard moans and whimpers and shared secrets about a few ticklish spots on her own body. The only person in any realm that knew her ticklish spots was gone. She had been young and in love with the stable boy Daniel and their private meetings under trees during her lessons had led to less than innocent moments. They unfortunately were never physical, not beyond roaming hands over and under clothes and maybe a few exciting, explorative touches below the belts. Yet with a few sweet words from Emma Swan, she saw herself transform into the person she had been with her first and true love. She watched the Queen writhe beneath the Savior turned Dark One. She watched Emma break down all the walls she'd spent years building for her own protection.
"Emma," she heard herself breathlessly moan.
Her heart raced and her stomach dropped. She felt a pang between her legs before her clit throbbed as she stared at the two of them while they moved together. She wasn't sure how either woman felt on the other side of the mirror, but she recognized her own sounds of pleasure and saw what caused them. She'd seen the events that led up to all the moans and arched backs and clawing hands. While her reaction was strongly physical, Regina felt something else that was less about a physical reaction and more about an emotional one.
Emma was rough and quick when the Queen asked, which was seldom in that moment, but mostly the younger woman took care of her. She was gentle and soft and loving. She was sweet and smiling and Regina saw the Emma she recognized from before her big sacrifice.
There were tender kisses and whispered words of encouragement. At one point, Regina overheard them tease each other with a few playful jabs about kneeling and being a power bottom, which the Queen didn't understand at all. Regina didn't really get it either. Storybrooke was insulated and while her sexual proclivities were diverse and inclusive, she didn't know all the terms the world beyond the town line used for such activities.
But Emma, so much like her usual self, supplied the Queen with a definition of a power bottom and Regina actually scoffed in time with the Queen.
"I resent that," the Queen told Emma and Regina nodded her agreement as though Emma could see she was outnumbered.
Emma chuckled and rescinded her claim. The Queen was satisfied enough—although Regina didn't believe that Emma retracted her statement for any other reason than to appease the brunette—that she started to reciprocate pleasurable touches before her own orgasm. They were truly making love just then and Regina stumbled back, away from the mirror.
It made no sense at all and it made every kind of sense at the same time. The Dark One and the Evil Queen. Except they weren't their titles. As Regina watched, surprised and curious, she didn't see royalty or the darkest force in all the magical realms. She saw Emma and Regina. They were just two women so in tune with each other and open to all their feelings and the possibilities that being together created for them. It was something Regina had craved for years and, when she thought about it, still did.
Emma and the Queen stopped talking and replaced their chatter with sounds of pleasure as they climbed toward climax together. The Queen came first with a loud cry of Emma's name and Emma followed closely after with an equally loud whimper. It sounded as though she had tried to call out Regina's name, but only made it through the first syllable before she lost control of herself in the intensity of her orgasm.
And then it happened.
Emma's skin lost its faint golden hue while her hair regained its golden glow. It fanned out around her and went back to its loose and soft state instead of its greasy and stringy one that gave Regina the impression that the Dark One preferred to use entirely too much hair gel to keep her bun tight and avoid any stray strands.
"Emma," the Queen breathed out in awe. Regina would have done the same if she wasn't speechless.
"What," the younger woman asked.
"You're…you changed," the Queen explained.
Emma furrowed her brow and looked down at herself. Her expression relaxed a little as her eyes widened when she noticed the change in her complexion. The Queen ran both hands through Emma's hair and it brought Emma's attention to her partially wavy tresses.
"What… How," Emma asked. "I'm not… No. This isn't possible."
Emma shuffled off the bed and Regina had an extremely good view of her body through the mirror, the entire and naked length of it.
"Oh god," Regina said as her eyes wandered over the other woman from head to toe. Less than a minute later, Emma had the dagger in her hand.
"What? This doesn't…this doesn't make any sense," Emma said.
"What is it," the Queen asked as she gathered her robe and slipped it back on herself. She walked up behind Emma and looked at the dagger from over her shoulder. "Your name is still on it."
"If my name is still on it, how do I look like I did before I became…this," Emma asked before she threw down the dagger and started to pace the room.
The Queen picked up the dagger and sighed as she made her way toward the frantic woman.
"Do you know how to release yourself from the dagger," the Queen asked.
"Without dying? Yeah. Sort of."
"How?"
"My…heart. I have to be ready to free it."
"And it's not free?"
"I guess not," Emma said with a hint of anger.
"How might you free it? What would it take?"
Emma blew out a sigh and sat down on the edge of the bed. "I don't know. I thought…I'm—We just—Why wouldn't that have worked?"
The Queen stood in front of her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Emma," she said carefully. "Freeing your heart…it's not just about love."
"Why isn't it enough," Emma asked and looked up at the Queen, her eyes pleading. Regina's heart broke for her.
"Forgiveness goes a long way. Whatever makes you angry and makes you want to destroy, that's what you need to let go. Be open to love, yes, but also be open to acceptance."
Emma laughed in an exhale and shook her head while tears brimmed in her eyes. "For someone so intent to exact revenge on Snow White, you're full of wisdom on the concept of a free heart."
The Queen flashed a small and slightly sad smile before she explained, "I know what it takes to be free. I choose not to be."
"Why?"
"Darkness is a strong force. It's intoxicating and addicting and I want others to pay for the suffering they've caused me. I have a feeling you want to do the same whether you believe so or not."
"I…I just don't want to be what everyone else expects me to be. I just want to be me, with all my faults and all my good and not so good parts."
The Queen nodded and smiled. It wasn't brief and it wasn't sad that time. It was genuine and warm, which was very unlike her. "I understand that. More than anyone, I'm sure."
Emma looked up at her again and the Queen stroked her thumb across the blonde's cheek.
"I have no doubt there is someone in your life that sees you as who you are and not what you are," the Queen added. "They let you be yourself and they don't judge or hinder you."
Regina held her breath and continued to watch as the two of them stared at each other during a long moment of silence. The air between them was thick with emotion and full of more words left unspoken.
"You don't belong here, Emma."
The younger woman's jaw dropped and her eyes were filled with hurt.
"I don't want you to go, dear," the Queen confessed. "I enjoy your company far too much, but I'm not ready for the same thing you are."
"Ready? I'm not ready for anything."
"You think that, but I asked you to love me and you did. You can't do that if you don't want to be free."
"Does that…does that mean you don't love me?"
"Oh, Emma. I feel so many things for you, but this isn't our time."
"What do you mean? We're here and we just—How is this not our time?"
"You came here emotionally in one place and now you'll leave here in another. Your feelings have changed. They were already changing when you arrived. You just didn't want to feel what you were feeling so you relied on the darkness and let it take over, because it's easier that way.
"You wanted to punish those you thought deserved it. Can you say you still want that now?"
"Why are you doing this? Why are you letting me go?"
"I don't think I am."
"Yes, you are. You're making me leave! You're pushing me away and you don't want me."
"On the contrary, Emma. I do want you, but you won't find what you're looking for here. And I think you know that."
"I don't want to go," Emma quietly admitted.
"I wish you didn't have to."
Regina closed her eyes. She couldn't bear to watch anymore. She knew what she had to do. Her past self had made it abundantly clear. It was as if the Queen knew she was watching and decided to give her a message. She spoke to Regina's heart when she spoke to Emma and it was time to bring Emma home.
She took a deep breath and started to mutter an incantation she hoped would extend beyond a single realm. She had never used it before to transport something or someone between lands, but she had to try. They had failed with Merlin as far as Regina understood and while she didn't know why freeing him hadn't worked in their favor, Regina knew she had to do something. If Emma was finally ready, she had to be fully committed as well.
The Queen wasn't ready. She still had many years ahead of her before she could do what needed to be done, but Regina existed that many years ahead. It was time. Deep down she had known, known for a while, that things might have unfolded the way they had. She had to let go. For Emma.
She finished the spell and pressed a hand to the mirror before she deeply inhaled and opened her eyes. She stared at Emma and focused all her attention on the woman who had barged into town and barreled into all aspects of her life, wormed her way beneath Regina's skin and crawled inside her beating heart, which always beat faster when Emma was near or in danger.
"Come home," Regina quietly pleaded with Emma through the mirror.
The glass fogged and the image faded behind the swirl of wispy, purple smoke. When it cleared, the mirror revealed only her reflection and she hoped—hoped harder than she had for anything other than Henry's safety—that Emma was back.
Within the hour, Emma showed up on her porch with her hands shoved in her pockets and a frown on her face, her eyes cast down for a while before she finally looked up.
"You brought me back," Emma said.
Regina took a deep breath and confirmed the blonde's statement. "I did."
"How did you do it?"
"I… There was a spell. I didn't know if it would work, but I had to try."
"Why now? Why wait until… Why not before?"
"Before when, Emma? I didn't even know you were gone until I saw you in my mirror."
"You—You saw me," Emma asked, her eyes wide with fear and a hint of fury. "What did you see?"
"What I needed to." Regina reached out and ran a hand down Emma's arm before she gently pulled the younger woman's hand out of her pants pocket. She took it in her own hand just like she had at the town line when she said goodbye to the thing she loved most: her family. "This is our time, Emma."
The blonde gasped and tried to pull away, but Regina kept her hand securely in Emma's and covered them with her free hand.
"You still loved me at a time when I was at my worst," Regina said. "When I was…the Evil Queen."
"You weren't that bad," Emma argued and Regina chuckled.
"Yes, I was. Just not to you. Do you want to know why?"
Emma met her gaze and just stared. Regina saw past the unreadable expression and understood the woman's silence as a cautious yes.
"I love you," Regina confessed. "And my heart will always recognize that, any time and in any land."
"But…what about Robin? What about your chance at happiness?"
"I don't stand a chance at it without you. And neither does Henry."
"Yes, he does. I destroyed his happiness."
"I'm not arguing that what you did was okay, but you have to know that he loves you. He always will. He doesn't like what you've done. You hurt him, but he still wants you to come back to us."
"Wh—what if I can't?"
"We both know that's not possible. Why else would you have come here?"
"You're the one that brought me back."
"But I didn't bring you here. I won't make you say the words, Emma, but I know how you feel. You don't have to be scared and you don't have to be anyone other than yourself. And we both know that this isn't you. You are not the Dark One, no matter what that dagger says."
"But Robin—He's your soulmate," Emma said.
"Maybe, but that doesn't mean I have to choose him. I thought it did, but I realize now that I have something much better than a soulmate and have had it for far longer than I ever knew. I have a friend and a co-parent and someone who always puts me before themselves. I have someone I'm bound to, but not obligated to. Someone who knows when to push me and when to give me space. Someone who can't admit her true feelings without getting sucked into another time or an alternate reality.
"You're just as stubborn as I am, but you're also fiercely protective and incredibly loyal. You're the thorn in my side I never thought I needed until I realized again and again how you bring out the best in me. You and Henry…you're the first two people to have my back and the first two people to call me on my bullshit. You two are all I need. The rest of the world can burn as long as I have you."
Emma fought off tears and tried to deflect with humor as she asked, "What about my parents? They're family. Don't we need them, too?"
Regina rolled her eyes with a smile and grudgingly admitted, "I wouldn't let them burn if I could help it."
Emma smiled before she sniffled and Regina took that as her cue to pull the blonde into her arms.
"Stay here tonight," Regina said as they hugged.
"What about Robin?"
"I'll deal with him tomorrow. Right now I want to focus on you."
They stepped back and looked at each other for a moment, their hands linked once again. Emma lifted them to her mouth and kissed the back of her hand before she turned it over and kissed Regina's palm, her wrist, her fingers.
Regina hummed and her eyes slipped closed before she heard Emma ask, "Earlier you said you saw what you needed to see, but what exactly was it you saw?" She opened her eyes and was greeted with the sight of Emma's smirk. Her breathing became a little shallow as she looked at the other woman and she wondered how much better it would be to feel instead of watch.
"I saw you put your hands all over me. Your mouth, too."
"But you saw yourself return the favor, right? Because you did. A lot. And not just this morning. Or tonight for you, I guess. Time travel is weird."
Regina laughed and agreed. "Indeed it is."
"Do you remember how I feel, Regina? Do you remember what we've done?"
"I'm afraid I only know what I saw. I never had a chance to feel the things I witnessed."
"I think we should rectify that, because it's a shame. You did things to me that no one else has or ever could."
Regina moaned and confessed, "The impact your presence has on my vagina without even putting your hands on me…is quite astonishing, impressive and a little disturbing."
Emma grinned and placed her hands on Regina's hips. "I think I know how to eradicate the darkness inside me."
"Do you now," Regina asked with an arched brow. "How might I be able to help?"
She really shouldn't have enjoyed it so much. After all of Storybrooke lost power the previous night, it wasn't long before people suspected the Dark One. Once people started to talk, Snow and Charming had to get involved. Emma was their daughter after all. So the morning after Emma's return, Regina was woken up by a phone call from her former enemy and because Emma was snuggled up with her under tangled sheets, Emma was woken up by the same call.
Regina arrived at the sheriff's station an hour after she'd hung up with Snow and walked into the main room without Emma with a neutral expression on her face. Her first thought was that she didn't want to be there and her next thought was how much she had enjoyed the reason for her late arrival at the station. Emma had kept her up most of the night and seemed to want to keep her up the rest of the day as well. They'd spent way too long in the shower doing much more than washing their hair and Regina had to use magic just to dry hers before she left the house as not to keep Snow and Charming waiting much longer. She didn't want to get another phone call from either one of them, especially after Snow had called her two more times before she finally poofed herself outside the station.
She had every intention of telling them Emma was herself again and the darkness had been tethered to the dagger, which they put in a lead box with thick, velvet lining and locked it so it wouldn't escape before they were able to better control the power within it. Or better yet, destroy it.
What Regina ended up doing, however, was deriving pleasure from the shocked and somewhat disgusted looks on Snow and Charming's faces when she admitted one too many details about how they had rid Emma of the darkness.
"You…You slept with Emma," Snow asked, breathy and baffled.
"How did this happen," Charming asked.
Regina was all too happy to explain. "She asked me to go inside, make myself a drink and slip into something a little more naked."
Snow was not in the least bit pleased and Charming immediately clarified, "That's not what I meant."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Regina apologized, but the tone of her voice suggested she wasn't all that apologetic. "What did you mean?"
"I meant how did you get rid of the darkness," Charming rephrased his question.
"I wish I could say I screwed it out of her, but that's not entirely true."
Snow's jaw dropped and she blinked rapidly as she shook her head. "What has gotten into you?"
"Emma, dear. I thought I'd made that clear." She just couldn't stop herself. It really had been a long time since she had been able to push Snow and Charming's buttons and Emma had given her perfect fuel for the fire. The one thing she was sorry about was how crudely she talked about Emma. The blonde deserved more respect than that, but the woman's parents made it far too easy to make them wonderfully uncomfortable. "The truth is, Emma went to the Enchanted Forest of the past and ran into me again. She worked a few things out while she was there and when I realized where she'd gone I worked out a few things of my own. We chose to be free."
The two idiots didn't appreciate the way they'd been told, but they understood once everything was out in the open between the Charming bunch. "True Love," they'd said that day. "May you always find each other," they'd toasted to the new couple at a family dinner later that week.
Before that, however, one of their many kisses the night the power went out had restored everyone's memories and Regina had promptly ended things with Robin. The explanation she gave him was that her heart wasn't in it. He'd said he wished that wasn't the case, but he also said he knew the feeling. He'd been twisted up inside ever since "Marian's" return and it only became worse when he found out his late wife was actual Zelena. Things were complicated and they could have worked through all of it, but they had to be willing to do that. Neither one of them put up much of a fight and Robin confessed that his mind was too focused on the baby while Regina admitted she was too committed to Emma.
"At least it all worked out for you," Robin had said with a pained smile.
"I'm sure you'll figure things out yourself," she'd replied and she truly believed that.
Things weren't instantly better for Emma, or any of her family, once she and Regina became a couple. The younger woman still had her demons from before the sacrifice and she had plenty more after she gave in to the darkness. For months, Regina—and sometimes Henry on the nights Emma slept over—had to soothe her after a nightmare, some nights more than one, and they still had things to talk about as a family. Like Henry's first heartbreak. They slowly built their relationship back up to where it had been before Emma was the Dark One and once those issues were sorted out, Regina asked Emma to move in.
Emma still didn't have a lot of things, but what little she did have littered the house almost immediately. The first night, her panties lay on Regina's bedroom floor after the blonde discarded them on her way to bed and they stayed there until after dinner on the second night. By the end of the first week, Emma's leather jackets took up one half of the closet and sometimes her boots were removed and abandoned in different parts of the house as she made herself at home after work. After another week, Emma's gun holster and badge were left on various surfaces throughout the house. One day it was on the kitchen counter and the next it was on the end table in the foyer. When Emma finally found a permanent home for them in the drawer of her nightstand because Regina finally allowed her to stash the loaded firearm in their bedroom, Emma never left it anywhere else.
After nearly two months, Emma turned off Regina's alarm one Saturday and the brunette slept in for the first time in a long time. When she woke up, she walked down to the kitchen and found Emma at the stove in only a loose T-shirt and panties. Her hair was still a little messy from sleep and she was free of any makeup, but Regina had never seen a more beautiful sight aside from their son.
She closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around Emma as the younger woman flipped a pancake. She pressed a chaste kiss to Emma's neck and her lips and nose were tickled by blonde tresses as she did. She smiled and rested her chin on Emma's shoulder a second before the woman rested a hand on hers where they linked against Emma's stomach.
"Good morning," Emma greeted and Regina heard the smile in her voice.
"Mmm. Good morning, my love. You look amazing."
"Yeah?"
"Mhmm. Is Henry up yet?"
"If he is, he hasn't come down yet. Why?"
Regina chose a non-verbal, but very direct answer and slid one hand down to Emma's thigh before she slipped it beneath the hem of her shirt. She kept one hand around the woman's waist and teased her through her panties with the other as she dropped a kiss onto Emma's shoulder through the shirt.
Emma gripped the spatula tighter and gasped before she tipped her head back and leaned into Regina. "You're gonna make me burn the pancakes."
"We can always eat at Granny's or make eggs instead," Regina purred and brought the hand around Emma's waist up to her hair and pulled it away from her neck before she kissed it a little more hungrily than the last time. "I want you. Right here. Right now. Just like this."
"Oh god," Emma breathlessly exclaimed just as Regina's hand dove into her panties. A moment later, Emma finally had the presence of mind to push the pan off the hot burner and flicked off the stove. "There's no way in hell I'm gonna let my bean get me into any more trouble."
Regina chuckled and removed her hand from Emma's panties before she spun her around and pinned her against the counter off to the side of the stove. "I don't think it got you into trouble at all. In fact, I think your bean deserves a reward. Don't you?"
"Unh," Emma moaned. "How did I get so lucky?"
Regina bit her lip and smiled before she brushed her fingers against Emma's clit, her hand in Emma's panties again within seconds. "I think we've already established how, dear. But in case I haven't made that clear, let me remind you how we got here."
She kissed her on the lips and teased Emma for a short while before the blonde said, "I love you" and Regina froze. Emma's eyes shot open and they stared at each other in shock.
"That's the first time you've ever said that to me," Regina stated.
"I know," Emma replied and continued to stare at her with wide, searching eyes so full of amazement. "You're not dying, are you?"
"I have a clean bill of health."
"And you don't feel any strange magic in town that might lead to untimely death or injury?"
"I don't."
"Wow. That's…a first for me. You're not dying, the town isn't under attack, and everything is…good. I never say 'I love you' when everything is good."
"I know," Regina said and when Emma looked at her, the brunette smiled. "Say it again."
Emma held her gaze for a few seconds before she repeated those three words and smiled back. "I love you."
"I love you, too," Regina said before she captured Emma's lips in a kiss and made love to her on the living room couch until they heard Henry come down the stairs and head into the kitchen.
Regina used magic to make them look presentable and that included a pair of silk pajama bottoms for Emma.
"One day, Emma Swan, I'm going to make you buy actual pajamas."
"I'd like to see you try. Yours are just too comfortable and I only need them on weekends with Henry in the house. Otherwise I have no need for pants because you'd just be taking them off me anyway."
"Mom! Why are there half-made pancakes on the stove?"
After a peck on the lips, Emma and Regina joined Henry in the kitchen. Emma finished making breakfast and as they usually did every weekend, they ate together as a family in the dining room.
Regina had made a life for herself in Storybrooke, made a home with Henry and found love in an unexpected place, but it wasn't until that moment that she realized she finally had her happy ending. With Henry and Emma in her life and at her side, loved and supported through everything, she finally felt at home in the world. She stared at both of them for a long time before Emma asked, "What? Why are you looking at us like that?"
Regina smiled and told her, "You kept your promise, Emma. You gave me my happy ending. You gave me Henry…and then you gave me you."
Emma blinked a few times before tears formed in her eyes and she smiled back. "You gave me my happy ending, too. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. And I'm gonna make you another promise I intend to keep. I'm gonna love you every day for the rest of my life. You and Henry."
And she did.
Note: There were a few more parts to sporkmetender's Tumblr prompt that I included in this chapter, but I did change it a little. The original parts of the prompt were Dark Swan kneels, calls Regina "your majesty," kisses her hand/boot, etc. and Regina eats at least one piece of actual fruit in front of Dark Swan-really messily.