And the home stretch! Apologies for the delay!

Sorry I haven't been responding to reviews, I'll get around to them after I finish this!

But to the guest who said: "Emma wouldn't be a "White" because that's not her father's name." I just want to clarify that I never said Emma's name was Emma White. In fact, in this story, and in the show, most people don't have a last name? Except for Snow, but really it could all be her first name the same way her curse name was Mary Margaret, but semantics.

What I wanted to get at was that the kingdom Emma was living in belongs to her maternal grandfather who, to the best of my knowledge and for the purposes of this story, was a White. Now, with that in mind, I decided that the family would be considered as 'the Whites', and Emma as the "White child", because they live and are the royal family in the White kingdom. So David, even if he was the 'man of the family' or however it goes, resides in the White Kingdom and would probably be known as "Prince David of the White Kingdom", ipso ergo: a White.

Or at least that's my logic of it, feel free to disagree.

By the time Regina had removed the breastplate - the final piece of armour - she was torn on what to do. When she had removed Emma's helmet and uncovered who she really was, her first feeling was guilt. Guilt for having hurt her childhood friend as such. She knew she probably shouldn't have cast such a strong spell to send the White Knight flying, but she generally had very little interest in dealing with rebels who thought they could rule her kingdom better, so she wasn't aiming for mercy.

After she found out, she had rushed to put a stop to the fighting, telling her guards via a raven that they should cease their attack, but make sure to not allow the renegades to cause a coup, or even reach the castle. And now she had been trying to remove Emma's armour so she could heal her, but their conversation had taken a sharp turn when Emma had said that she could take over the kingdom, or that Regina could try to become a benevolent ruler.

Sure she might not enjoy having people run away or stammer whenever she appeared, but she had respect. Or so she thought until Emma told her that that was pure fear. She supposed that it made sense. But she couldn't just change, could she? Did she even want to, or was she just accepting Emma's feelings as her own in the heat of the moment?

"Hey, are you okay? You seem a little bit out of it. If you want to just take me back outside, I'm sure my friends can patch me up-"

"Nonsense," Regina cut in, preparing her hands to sweep over Emma's body and heal. "I was just thinking."

"Should I ask what about, or should I just keep quiet?"

Regina was tempted to tell Emma the latter, that she would figure it out on her own, but seeing Emma's well-meaning curiosity plain in her face made her rethink. "I'm considering what you told me earlier, about how I could become a benevolent leader."

"Okay," Emma said, prompting her to continue.

She first began the healing process before she started speaking again. "What you said resonated with me, and while I can understand where you're coming from, I don't believe that becoming this unrealistically generous leader would make things better. If anything, it might make people think I am weak, and they might try to screw me over. I will certainly not allow for that to happen. I might fly off the handle from time to time because I'm overwhelmed, but right now, it's my only option."

Emma didn't respond at first, the feeling of relief as her bruises were quickly healing making her relax, and her eyes close. When she did open her eyes, she frowned, and grabbed at Regina's hands. "Hey, stop, stop."

"Is something wrong?" Regina asked, confused as to why she had to stop.

Emma nodded. "You're exerting yourself too much." When Regina was about to protest and say otherwise, she added, "You're pale, Regina; it's okay, you don't have to heal me all the way, like this is fine."

"But-"

"Regina, it's fine," Emma reassured her, gently squeezing her hands.

So Regina conceded to stop, since truth be told, she was feeling a bit woozy. "You should probably get a message to your little group, they're bound to try and storm the place and save you from me."

Emma agreed, so Regina brought a piece of parchment and a quill on top of a hardcover book for her to write.

"I'd recommend you include something that assures them that it's you writing this, not me making you write this under duress."

"Yeah, makes sense." After a few minutes, the letter was ready.

Regina couldn't help herself but to glance through the letter, and frowned at a word. "Evil-y? Is that supposed to be me?"

Emma merely shrugged. "We talked about it this morning, so it works to assure them it's me. I'm pretty sure that if you were trying to write something or had me fearing for my life as I wrote this with you reading over my shoulder, it'd definitely not include 'evil-y'."

"Fair enough," Regina conceded with a smile.

Emma returned the smile in kind, and then said, "And to what you were saying before, maybe this can work."

"And how do you propose that?"

"Well, think about it. I become your knight, I will protect you, and be by your side. You would make sure I'm not screwing over your military, and I could help you from flying off the handle. Who knows, maybe after time, you could naturally turn benevolent," Emma explained with an easy grin.

Regina considered it, and nodded her agreement.

So it was decided. The next day, when Emma was feeling better, she was officially sworn in as Regina's right hand, her own personal knight. That afternoon, she went to visit her friends, who were recuperating, though thankfully no one had any serious injuries. She told them what had happened, and offered them a place in the kingdom, to fight alongside her as her top officers, and most of them agreed.

Aurora however, decided that she wasn't cut out for an actual army, and Mulan decided she's accompany her - "she needs protection!" - as they would continue travelling for a new home. The fairies also turned down the offer, since they were quite helpless without any of their dust, but they did decide to stay in the palace, helping around.

Emma also sent a letter to her parents, letting them know that they had a home waiting in their old kingdom, and that Regina was removing the decree of their banishment.

About a week later, Emma was having a fitting for her new and improved armour. Once it was done, she strolled over to Regina's study, and asked, "So, what do you think?"

Regina turned and let her eye appreciatively roam over her knight's new armour. "Much better. Does it feel comfortable?"

"Yeah, especially when it's not all dented from flying around because I got magically thrown halfway across the kingdom," Emma jested.

"Oh honestly, I did not fling you that far away," Regina huffed.

Emma chuckled and then murmured, "My body would protest and say otherwise, my Queen,"

They had subtly been flirting back and forth for the past week, to the point that Red had told Emma that if she didn't make a move and kiss Regina, she would either make them kiss each other, or she'd take Regina for herself.

"I doubt it, your body is fully healed, I made sure of it," Regina countered haughtily.

"Hmmm nope, pretty sure there's still one part still not satisfactory."

Regina knew she was probably falling for some kind of prank, but if she was honest, she didn't mind having this playfulness. Emma being around had changed her dynamic and outlook so much. Everything felt brighter and more energetic, she even had the energy to deal with more of her citizens and their issues. "Alright, I'll bite, what part still needs healing?"

"It's on my face, can you guess where?" Emma coyly asked. Much of Emma's bravado went down the drain when Regina decided that she had to investigate by cupping Emma's cheeks, and carefully take inventory by letting her eyes roam all over her face, their noses mere inches from the other.

"Everything looks fine, Emma."

"Really? Because my lips were feeling pretty bad, they're kinda bruised..."

Now Regina understood everything, but she wasn't going to let Emma win that easily. Keeping her face impassive, she demurely stated, "Oh really? Perhaps you've been kissing too many people lately."

Emma groaned. "Seriously Regina?

"I would certainly hope not, I'd expect my knight to have a little bit more class, and not kiss every woman who threw herself at her."

"Of course not, my Queen, you know I am only loyal to you."

Regina grinned, bringing their faces closer together. When their lips were about to touch, she breathed, "good," before they kissed.

It was as magical as they could have imagined, without the awkwardness of their first accidental kiss all those years ago.

When they broke apart, Emma smirked. "I knew you liked me back."

Regina's answer was to playfully shove her shoulder. "You are a tease."

"That's what I'm here for."

"Oh? I thought you were here to be my knight."

Emma just waved it off. "That's the official reason."

"And the non-official reason?" Regina asked.

"To be by your side, and protect you forever, just like I promised you."

And that was the end of this story!

I hope everyone enjoyed this!

Now I'll go back to writing more one-shots!

Let me know if you liked this!