When they returned to Mifflin Street, Henry was already waiting impatiently outside. He would have gone in but for the presence of his grandparents, who were uncomfortable standing awkwardly on the porch. It was less than ideal, but Emma understood their relationship with Regina would take time to sort out. Now was just not the time to do it. She ran out ahead, wanting to clear them out, but after some very tight hugs with Henry squeezed in the middle, they made no effort to stay.

"Emma, honey, we're so happy everything's okay," Snow murmured in her ear.

"Me too, Mom," Emma managed as David gently pulled Snow away before she decided she never wanted to let go.

Charming, however, said nothing. Simply tacking on a kiss to her cheek and a look—Emma could have sworn that the twinkle in his eye was a congratulations for something more than their victory.

He then led Snow down the path, not letting her say a word to Regina, but supplementing her concerned glance with a tilt of his head. Not much, but a sincere thanks for his daughter's life. And what he imagined would soon be her happiness.

Regina gave them little thought as they passed, frozen in place by the shock of seeing Henry and then again when he willingly left Emma's side to bowl down the path and throw himself at her.

Waiting in front of his old house had done it for him. Emma was right; it was home. He'd missed being with his mom, maybe not all the time, but more than he had pretended. And now, anyone could tell she was hurting. It was the perfect excuse to appreciate one of her hugs, the kind only she could give, soft and enveloping and instantly warm, like the rush from the open oven door when her turnovers were finished.

Regina felt the tears the second he made contact. She had promised herself she would keep it together in front of him if she ever were to have him back, but she hadn't accounted for the rush that moved through her heart at even the thought of being able to hold him again.

Emma moved closer, drawn by the pair's radiating spirit, when Regina managed to look up from Henry's tousled head to find Emma's eyes, Emma's green, green eyes, glowing with happiness.

Emma had given her this.

She swiftly reached out and grabbed a wrist, pulling the blonde in to her open arm.

Emma shared a look with Henry, just as surprised at her inclusion, no matter how much had changed, but Regina just hung on tighter and let the tears fall.

This was how it was supposed to be.

Eventually, they managed to extricate themselves, Regina realizing that perhaps she shouldn't be holding so tightly to Henry lest she drive him further away or he realize that he were deep in the arms of the Evil Queen and react with disgust or horror. Emma just knew that if she didn't remove herself from Regina's side soon, she didn't know when she would be able to. Apparently she had only had a mother for less than a year and she was already turning into her.

She moved them all inside, Henry in particular using his homecoming to try to distract himself from how weird his moms were being, even if he desperately wanted to know why. Especially when Emma had insisted that Regina rest, and Regina had only resisted until Emma had promised that they'd be there when she woke up. In fact, Emma had gotten Henry to help escort Regina to her room and squeezed her hand before she shut the door.

The minute they were back downstairs on the couch, he dove right in.

"Ma, what's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Emma knew she wasn't going to get anywhere trying to deflect him—Regina was way more qualified in this department, and she never even bought herself more than a couple of minutes.

"C'mon, Emma!" Henry was having none of it, no matter how uncomfortable Emma seemed. "Why are you and mom acting so different? Why were you holding her hand? Did you get cursed or something?"

"God, no, Henry," Emma cut in, "No curses, no mag—" She caught herself. Technically there was a little magic involved. In the process, not the results. But she couldn't tell her mini lie detector with a habit of blowing things out of proportion that.

"No curses. We're just us."

The side eye Henry gave her was so Regina, Emma almost cracked, but she didn't want to push her luck when he decided to give her some leeway on the magic front.

"Well then how come you're even weirder than after the portal? Does it have to do with how she saved your life? What about Cora?" His voice continued to rise as he considered the possibilities.

"Whoa, kid, with the questions." Emma took a deep breath, trying to surface from underneath the torrent of curiosity. She tried to center herself. She could control the pacing.

"Yes," she began slowly and clearly, "This does have to do a little with your mom saving my life and with the portal and with what happened with Cora."

Henry also started to settle with Emma's sincerity. This time he wasn't sure he wanted to push against her seriousness.

"Ma, what happened?"

Emma sighed. What hadn't happened. And what to tell a pre-teen about it.

"I think that's something your mom and I are gonna have to tell you together, okay?" She watched his shoulders slump even further. She really wished she could explain things somehow, but she could barely explain it herself. And she really needed to talk to Regina first. "Can you hold on a little longer?"

"Yeah…"

"I can tell you that Cora can't hurt you or anyone else anymore. She's…gone." Emma grimaced. When did she get so weird about this?

"She's dead?"

"Yeah, kid. And, she may have been a really bad lady, but she was your mom's mom. So she loved her. And it's gonna be hard for her, to deal with that."

"Okay." Henry furrowed his eyebrows in a look Emma recognized distinctly as one of her own. She scooted closer and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"I know you're worried. But your mom's the strongest person I've ever met. And it means a lot to her that you care"

"She's my mom!"

"I know, Henry."

Teaching moment achieved. The recognition was neon-bright across his face before it slipped into shame.

"I'm sorry."

She hugged him closer as he snuggled into her side. Kid didn't need to feel any worse about how he had acted. At least not while he was handling it all by himself.

"I'm glad. You're a great kid, Henry. But you might want to tell her."

"Okay." He was resolved. He would do better. Like Emma had been dealing with his mom. He tilted his head up. "I kinda like you guys getting along."

Emma wasn't all that surprised, but she was glad he had said it, a smile growing unbidden across her face. "Me too, kid. You know, your mom is pretty great."

Henry rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know."

Okay, maybe she had pushed too far. That teenage sass would be a lot to deal with from this kid.

"Okay. Want to watch a movie while we wait?"

That was definitely a good compromise as he bounded from the couch to pick one of his favorites. Emma only caught the opening credits before she too was fast asleep on Regina's absurdly comfortable couch. Turns out sleeping spells didn't compensate for the adrenaline-filled sleepless nights of portal adventuring and evil witch threats.

Henry didn't mind. He was just content to have her there—both of his moms safe and near and with his DVD collection and the big screen TV and a couch unrivaled by any seat in Snow's apartment.

As the credits rolled and his stomach started to growl, he shook Emma's shoulders.

"Hey, Ma! Emma! Can we wake Mom up now?"

Emma reluctantly returned to consciousness, peering at the time on her phone through one open eye.

"Yeesh, kid! How long was that movie?" She mumbled, sitting up.

"You were asleep so I watched part two! So, can we?"

Emma still couldn't fully process how awake he was when her own responses were so dulled, but she smiled at his enthusiasm to see Regina. She only hoped the brunette had managed to find the afternoon restful.

"Yeah, we probably should."

At her words, Henry bounded for the stairs and got midway up, only stopping to turn around when he realized she wasn't right behind him. Emma froze mid-stretch when his glare reached her, half expecting it to be accompanied by a "Miss Swan."

She quickly jogged towards her waiting son.

"Henry?"

Regina opened her eyes to find her son sitting on her bed directly in front of her. It couldn't have possibly been real, but Regina had never been much for good dreams.

"Hi, Mom."

Henry had managed to keep from busting in Regina's room once they made it up the stairs. In fact, he had snuck in like an old pro, from years of peeking into his mom's room when he was sick or had nightmares only to have her wake up instantly, worried about him. This time though, she hadn't. She had even looked peaceful as she slept, and Henry wondered if they shouldn't let her rest even more. But he had something he wanted to say. Besides, if he had been the one asleep, his mom would have woken him because if he slept any later he'd never be able to get to bed on time. So he sat on the side of the bed and gently grasped her shoulder. Much more gently than he had with Emma, the blonde noticed from where she stood in the doorway, not sure how far she could intrude into the space or the moment.

Regina sat up slowly, still not fully believing he was there, they were there, slightly woozy from the long nap, but feeling new. She had slept deeply from pure exhaustion—not a single dream.

As soon as she had risen to his height, Henry shook his self-imposed restraints and threw his arms around her, mumbling into her shoulder, "I'm sorry, Mom. About everything."

Her eyes locking with Emma's as they welled up once again, she was absolutely overcome. It was ridiculous. She really did have to get a handle on this crying thing before she lost all of her Evil Queen cred.

She brought Henry back out to face her, finding such love and honesty that she didn't deserve, bringing a happiness that she could practically feel bursting through the dark parts of her heart.

"Henry," she sighed, cupping his cheeks the way she liked to when he was very little and would nuzzle into her hands. "You don't have to apologize."

Catching that he would soon be protesting, her stubborn, wonderful boy, she dropped her hands to his shoulders before murmuring, "But thank you, anyway."

They shared a smile then, and Regina basked in what she could truly consider her happy ending, before tears threatened once again when she saw Emma smiling right along with them, and she realized that her happy ending could include so much more.

Needing a distraction more than anything, despite her reluctance to break contact with Henry—just in case it really all was a dream—she slipped her feet over the side of the bed.

"I can't believe you let me sleep that long," she scolded Emma before adding mischievously, "Henry must be starving."

Emma grinned, wishing she had been around before everything had fallen apart to see this mother and son relationship that had been everything she had ever wanted for herself.

"Just wait a few more years. I bet you there won't be any food left in Storybrooke."

"Hey!" Henry piped up. Getting along was one thing, but he could do without the double team teasing. "I'm a growing boy."

Regina smiled. How many times had she wished Henry had fallen under the curse so she could keep him her little prince forever? "That you are. How about I make us some dinner?"

Emma couldn't deny the way Henry's face lit up at the idea of his mom's cooking, but it didn't seem right that Regina should have to cook after everything.

"Are you sure? I could—"

Emma was rapidly interrupted by a joint, urgent "no" from the brunettes in the room.

"—pick something up from Granny's. Yeesh."

Regina laughed, a grand belly laugh with Henry, to the surprise of everyone.

"I'm sorry, Emma," she breathed through her chuckling, "that's a very kind offer. But I want to. What do you say, Henry? I could make your favorites?"

If Emma thought Henry looked excited before, she didn't know what to call him now.

"Really? All of them?"

"I'll have to see if we have everything, but I'll do my best. Why don't you go pull out the pans?"

"Okay! Thanks, Mom!" Henry added as he bolted from the room.

Emma hung in the doorway as Regina got out of bed, somehow managing to laugh at how easily her son's loyalties could be swayed by food.

"Okay, now you've got to tell me what that was about."

Regina smiled her best Cheshire smile at the blonde leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, every part the Sheriff.

"You'll see soon enough, dear. Now go keep Henry entertained. I won't be very productive if he just sits staring impatiently as he normally does."

Emma knew that to be true only in that Regina probably would spend the whole time staring back at him, the normality of it all too overwhelming.

"As you wish, Madame Mayor."

"Thank you, Princess. Now go. He's probably already into the chocolate."

"Chocolate?" Emma asked as she immediately turned out the door. "Why didn't you say so?"