A/N: Hey there, my beautiful readers. First of all, I'm sorry for the delay, this one was a little be difficult to write. I only finished this last friday (my b-day, by the way) and my beta had some things to take care off. Anyway here it is. Hope you like it. Oh, and thank you everyone who had favorited, followed and reviewed. It really means a lot to me. And of course thanks to my beta Veritax. She does magic with this.

xoxo

Camila...

Chapter 3 – Only Time Will Tell You What This Is

As Regina rose from her bed, she couldn't believe that she had finally gotten a good night of sleep. Making her way to her bathroom to take a shower she couldn't wipe the smile that crept over her lips as she remembered the events of the previous night.

She had finally found her, well, to be precise, it was more like Emma had found her, but either way, they had found each other and that was all that mattered.

For the first time in a long time she actually felt her heart beat in her chest, and every time she looked directly at Emma's beautiful green eyes she felt a sense of warmth running through her entire body, it felt like someone was holding her close, keeping her safe and, even though she didn't know what it was like to be in Emma's arms, she felt as if the blonde was the one holding her.

The conversation between them had flowed smoothly. They had felt comfortable talking to each other over the hours that had gone by in a heartbeat. Regina felt like the more she learned about Emma the more she wanted to know. She wanted to know why the blonde had given Henry up, how Emma's childhood had been, if she had anyone waiting for her back in Boston… She wanted to, needed to know everything about her but she had to refrain from asking all these questions, they were way too personal, and she didn't want to scare Emma off.

They talked about Henry and her job as mayor and Regina told her a few things about Storybrooke, although she had to skip the part of the story about it being a cursed town where all the citizens were fairytale characters, even though for some reason she found it difficult not to tell her. A part of her wanted Emma to know everything about her, even her wrong doings, she wanted to explain to Emma what had caused her to become the Evil Queen, she needed Emma to know her, to truly know how she was. But she didn't, she kept it all to herself because, how could she believe her? She would certainly think that she was crazy and would run away taking Henry with her. No, she couldn't risk it. She needed Emma to stay in Storybrooke, she needed the blonde to trust her, to be her friend. She needed time to know if Emma was indeed her savior just like in her dreams

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Emma woke up with a goofy smile on her face. She had to thank the son she had given up for adoption a decade ago for that. Henry… Just by showing up at her door in the middle of the night he had managed to change her whole life.

Never in a million years, she would have thought that her son's adoptive mother was her, nor would she have thought that falling in love with someone you barely knew could be possible. But she had come to learn that life always liked to prove her wrong and, once again, it had. It was indeed possible, because that was exactly how she felt.

The moment Emma had looked into Regina's eyes the previous night, a wave of feelings had shot through her body. It had been overwhelming but there was something she didn't expect: the feeling of being at home. Emma never felt like any place was home, the word had even sounded foreign to her for she had never referred to the homes that she had gone through as such, and she certainly didn't expect to find this feeling just by exchanging a look with Regina.

Emma knew that in her dreams she was in love with the brunette, and because of that the only thing in her mind lately had been the need to find her. Now that she had she wondered if what she was feeling towards Regina was indeed love.

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As the day went by, both women were trying to discover what their feelings meant, what they meant for each other. Needless to say, they didn't get a straight answer by the end of the day.

Emma's mind kept going back to Regina, and she wondered if the brunette was thinking about her as well.

But she still had one more thing going on through her mind: was she going to stay?

Henry had asked her to, and honestly, at first she thought about declining the offer. Creating a bond with her biological son that she had given up for adoption ten years ago wasn't really the most suitable option for her, if there was something Emma Swan wasn't very fond of was getting attached. But there were two reasons for it: she didn't want to get hurt neither did she want to hurt anyone. But she just couldn't shake off this feeling of belonging that had overcome her last night.

In an attempt to clear her head Emma spent most of her day wondering through Storybrooke. She figured it would be nice to know the town, if she was planning to stay here.

"Am I? You're a natural runner Swan. I should be running back to Boston right now, but I can't, I just can't, and this scares the shit outta me."

It was true. Emma Swan had a history of never staying in one place for too long, she never had the will to do so. But this time felt different, she wanted to stay. Maybe this time she would listen to her heart and stay, and perhaps she would be able to find what she'd been longing for this whole time: a family.

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Regina had never been so distracted at work. She couldn't stop thinking about Ms. Swan. She wanted nothing more than to pick up Henry from school, go look for Emma and take both to a place where the three of them could spend time together like a family.

Other than that, she kept wondering if Emma had already decided if she was going to stay longer or not. Her heart ached at the thought of the blonde leaving Storybrooke.

She never enjoyed being with anyone that wasn't her son. She didn't like anyone in Storybrooke, after all she had cursed them all for a reason. However, she really liked being in Emma's presence. She felt like, somehow, they belonged together.

For the first time in her life like she belonged somewhere, she belonged to someone. She had never felt like this, and as hard as it was to admit it, she hadn't even felt that with Daniel.

"Daniel" Regina thought. She wondered what he would say about everything that had been happening lately. She wondered what he would've said about the fact that she was slowly letting go of him. She knew it would never be possible to forget him, but letting go of the pain that his memory caused her, finally accepting that the days they had spent together were gone and would never come back… Well, it looked like that was possible. A part of her heart was consumed by guilt, she felt like she was betraying him, dishonoring his memory, but there was another part of her that couldn't help but want to give this, whatever this was, a chance.

Maybe, after all, there was a tiny chance that she would be able to finally find what she had been longing for: love.

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As the day turned into night, both women were still drowned in their thoughts. Helpless about what to do with all these feelings they had been having.

Emma was still unsure if she should stay or not. If she stayed, she would have to begin acting like a real grown up, if she wanted to get to know Henry better, which she surely did, now that he had found her, and stop running when things got bad. She would have to listen to every single word he had to say about his book, even if she thought it was crazy. She would have to correct him every time he called his mother Evil Queen. If she stayed she would have to come clean about her feelings and she wouldn't be able to run this time. If she left, she would never know what they could have had.

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Although, Regina had always been a very persuasive woman, and always got what she wanted, she didn't feel like using her power of persuasion to convince Emma Swan to stick around. She wanted Emma to stay, there was no doubt about that, but she wanted her to freely choose to do so.

To persuade Emma to stay, could bring misery in the future, because if the blonde did stay, and realized she hadn't freely made up her mind, she could turn her back on Regina and hate her like many others, and even her son, did.

And for some reason, the idea of Emma hating her was unbearable; it would finish breaking the remaining pieces of her heart.

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When both women went to bed that night, they still couldn't stop thinking about each other and the more they wanted to meet again, and they did that night, like many others: in their dreams. Even though they didn't know, they shared the same dream that night:

Emma and Regina were sitting on the grass, near a lake. They both watched carefully as Henry played near the water. They weren't talking, They were simply enjoying each other's company. Suddenly Henry made his way towards them and sat between the two of them.

"Mom?"

Henry said to Regina, and the brunette had the feeling that her son's next question was going to make her uncomfortable.

"Yes, dear?"

"You like Emma?"

And there, Regina was indeed right. When she first heard the words coming out from Henry's mouth she almost choked, but after letting the words settle in her mind for a few seconds, she realized he hadn't mean if she liked Emma that way, although it was true, she did like her. With a shy but genuine smile she answered:

"Yes. I do like her. Why?"

"Nothing really. I was just wondering, that's all. I'm gonna go play some more"

"Okay"

Regina said softly. It still amazed her how Henry always got straight to the point when he wanted to know something.

After Emma was sure Henry was far enough so he couldn't hear them she said to Regina:

"I like you too."

Regina tried not to blush at the confession, but Emma saw her and she knew that she had blushed just like that when Regina had answered Henry's question.

They didn't speak again. They went back to their perfectly comfortable silence as they both focused on memorizing every little detail about that simple but beautiful moment.

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When Emma woke up the next morning she had already made up her mind. She just hoped things would turn out alright this time.