A/N: This story is getting slowly to its close. Not after this chapter but I still think we won't see 50 chapters with this one - fair warning. Hope you enjoy.

Regina woke to a pair of insistent lips that were attacking her neck and left earlobe.

"What...?"

"Morning," Emma breathed into her ear and then continued with her sweet ministrations.

"Emma," Regina murmured and put her hand over Emma's which had sneaked inside her pyjama tops messaging warm flesh.

"Yes, my love?"

"Mhhmmm," Regina made instead of an answer as Emma sucked lightly at a sensitive pulse point.

"I like the sound of that."

Regina half turned into Emma and her lips were immediately captured by her lover's. Emma never broke the delicious contact as she gave Regina a little more room to turn onto her back and then pushed on top of her.

"What're you doing?" Regina breathed into their kiss. Emma broke it for a moment and looked down at Regina a little puzzled.

"I'm trying to make love to my fiancée. But if you have to ask, maybe I'm not doing it right?" she said with puppy eyes.

Regina smiled, then giggled.

"You're lovely, savior, but you're also an idiot," she said and laughed when Emma started pouting. "I love you."

This made Emma perk up again and she kissed the dark-haired woman slowly and lovingly.

"And I love you," she murmured against eager lips.

Her hand roamed Regina's body and finally set to open some buttons, Regina murmured her approval and they spend some time uncovering naked skin to tender explorations of hands and lips and tongues.

"You feel so amazing," Emma breathed into the hot skin between Regina's breasts relishing in the feel of softness against her cheek.

Regina breathed heavily as Emma captured a nipple between her lips, sucking it lightly.

"That feels... pretty amazing, too," she complimented the blonde who took her time making love to Regina's breasts.

"I love your boobs," she whispered.

"And they love you back."

Emma pulled herself up to look at her lover. hovering over her until Regina finally opened her eyes to look up at her.

"When are we getting married?" the sheriff asked as if that was the most important question in the world right now.

"Erm, I... I don't know. We'll have to set a date... at some point," Regina answered trying to pull herself out of the amorous mood of just moments before.

"You know, I thought I'd be the one to ask... to propose," Emma admitted.

"Are you disappointed that I asked you first?"

"No, I... I just thought... I'd be the one... I have thought about asking you but... I thought it was too early. But then... the baby-thing happened and... Are we doing this right? I mean... we are being pretty unconventional." Emma frowned, she seemed bothered by this.

"Emma, love, look at me," Regina told her and Emma did. "Everything about us has been unconventional - the way we met, the way we... got to know each other, the way we fell in love. The world around us doesn't really allow for... smooth sailing but... I don't care. I'm with you and I love you."

"I love you, too," Emma answered with a smile. "I just wish... things wouldn't get so jumbled. I have a feeling like I'm... going about this relationship all wrong... because..."

"Because your father doesn't approve?" Regina asked, now wearing a frown of her own.

"I know his approval shouldn't matter so much to me but... I feel that it's the only thing missing to make me... completely happy. Do you understand that?"

To Emma's surprise, Regina nodded. She knew her lover didn't care about the Charmings' approval of anything she did, she was beyond caring about anything anybody said or thought about her.

"I felt that way about my mother... when I was with Daniel. I so wanted to tell her... but knew I couldn't," Regina said. "But David is not like my mother. He's going to do what's right, I'm sure of it. He'll see that we're happy together and... that'll be enough."

"But he never looks at us," Emma argued.

Regina nodded thoughtfully. Then she took Emma's hand and kissed it gently. She disentangled herself from Emma who protested but let her lover get up and out of bed.

"Where are you going?"

"I have something for you," Regina said. She was only wearing her pajama bottoms now and Emma watched her half-undressed form walk the room in the semi-darkness. Regina pulled her briefcase from underneath her clothes which lay on the leather couch. She took something small from it and put the briefcase down. She returned to the bed from where Emma was watching her curiously, trying to catch a glimpse at what her lover had taken from her briefcase.

Regina put a pillow against the hardboard and settled down against it; Emma was lying on her tummy next to her, leaning on her elbows. She was looking at Regina's hands which unfolded and showed Emma a ring box.

Regina opened it and turned it so that Emma could look inside. In a velvety blue cushion lay a beautiful band of white gold which held a ruby.

"I know that diamonds are more traditional but... white and red seem to be... our colors?" Regina said shyly waiting for a reaction from her love.

"You had planned on asking me?" Emma asked.

"Yes, I... I wanted to ask you this weekend... at a romantic dinner," Regina admitted.

Emma touched the ring in its box with a hesitant finger.

"It's... perfect," she said. She pulled herself up and kissed Regina. Then she held out her left hand. "Claim me, woman," she said with a wink and Regina laughed.

The mayor took the engagement ring from the box and slipped it over Emma's finger.

"With this ring I take you as my betrothed," she said teasingly formal.

"Your betrothed, mhh, I like that," Emma gave back easily looking at the piece of jewellery from up close. "It's so beautful," she said smiling.

"It suits you."

They looked at each other.

"I never thought I could be this happy, Regina. With all that's happened... in my life, I... just thought I would be content, maybe living with someone, maybe not. I didn't dare think of the future because... I didn't think I would be able to... hold onto any kind of happiness. You changed that - you and Henry changed that. I'm yours," she added and they seemed the truest words she had ever said to anyone.

"Yes, you are," Regina agreed and leaned down for a lingering kiss.

Emma held the door to the conference room for Regina.

"Thank you, sheriff," the dark-haired woman said with a smile.

Emma merely inclined her head. She was nervous about this meeting. She was wearing her engagement ring but had let the long sleeves of her shirt fall over it. There were secrets that may reveal themselves tonight and she wasn't sure this was the right setting. But her father hadn't given her any choices. If he wasn't willing to talk to her privately, this was the only way she could communicate with him at all.

She greeted some friends before she sat down next to Regina.

"It'll be alright," her lover told her and squeezed her hand under the table. Emma held onto it, not caring if anyone saw or suspected that their hands were entwined.

Once again, David asked everyone to sit and settle down. He didn't seem as enthusiastic or at ease as he had been at their last meeting. He had watched Emma and Regina enter together, had known that they had come together from Regina's office. They gave the impression of being very much together, at ease with each other, and he didn't like it at all.

"Thank you all for coming tonight. I think there're some things we should discuss. And I think we should do it in the open so that everybody can hear and... offer an opinion," he said and the phrasing made his daughter look at him suspiciously.

But he started with telling everyone about the progress they had made in the mines. They had found some fairy dust already. It wasn't quite the lode they had hoped for but it was a beginning. He also told them about some things he had learned from talking to Neal and Hook but it wasn't very much and he seemed reluctant to give the pirate any credit at all. He seemed dismissive of the man with the hook and Emma looked at her friend questioningly. Hook was leaning against the wall - the conference table didn't hold enough chairs for everybody - and he seemed surprised by Charming's words. But just for a second, then his features morphed into his bemused mask again. He shrugged at Emma as if he was used to being treated this way.

"Well, that's all as far as our efforts went. Did you find anything at Gold's shop?" David asked but not anyone in particular. He seemed to just throw the question into the room for anyone who might have an answer.

Emma closed her eyes for a moment then she looked at Regina. Her lover gave her an encouraging smile.

"We're still looking. There're a lot of things in that shop. We've found some hiding places but so far nothing that could help us. But we keep looking," the sheriff finally said.

"You found nothing?" David asked again and then added, with a sidelong glance at Regina. "Nothing at all?"

"What're you asking, dad?" Emma's voice had an annoyed edge to it. She had had an inkling about this meeting since she'd heard about it. It seemed rushed and senseless in the light that nobody seemed to have made much progress.

"I'm just asking whether you're sure that... none of you has found anything," he gave back. He was looking at her for a moment and she could see something like triumph in his eyes, but it wasn't just that. He seemed worried, too - for her.

"I told you, we haven't found anything useful."

"Well, then I'm curious about the box Regina has given Hook on Monday... in the parking lot behind the diner?" He was seemingly reminding the mayor of the circumstances but, of course, everyone knew that it was a perfect place for shady dealings and now everyone looked at Regina. There didn't seem to be a question behind most eyes, they seemed already made up that Regina had done something... evil.

Regina smiled pleasantly at everyone. She looked up at Hook.

"I didn't tell him," he said easily.

"No, I didn't think so. Have you taken care of it?" she asked and he inclined his head in a positive answer.

"It lies at the bottom of the sea," he said.

"So you did find something," David accused.

"Regina?" Snow asked unsure of where this was all going. David hadn't told her about his discovery but as the week had worn on his 'better mood' had seemed to get an edge to it. He seemed a little smug about this meeting and she had wondered what it was about. Now she knew and she was surprised at how he was handling this information but also at the information itself.

"Actually, Neal found something. Why don't you tell everyone what you found in your father's kitchen the other week," Regina asked of Neal and for a moment he looked puzzled. Then he seemed to remember, not just what he had found but something else.

"A box but... I haven't seen it since... Sunday, I think. It's not in the shop anymore."

"No, it's not," Regina confirmed.

"What was it?" David asked. He looked at Regina but it was Emma who answered:

"It was the reason why I ended up at the hospital last weekend."

Everybody looked at her now, only two people weren't surprised by what she'd said.

"I don't understand," David said. "I thought you didn't know what made you faint."

"We thought it... safer to not let anyone know what made Emma sick but we knew. I took the box from the shop on Monday and gave it to Hook to get rid of it. It was a similar box to the one in which Rumple trapped Pan - a Pandora's box. I'm pretty sure now that the name was merely an indication of its magical properties and not the genuine mythical item," she told everyone.

"But you don't know whether or not it could have helped us get home? You just... had Hook get rid of it!" David exclaimed.

"It had something evil trapped inside and it made Emma sick. That was all I needed to know," Regina gave back and seemingly dared David to question her further on this point.

He simply looked at her for a long moment.

"And that's all you found?" He asked lamely and mostly everybody became aware that they had been assembled here to watch this accusation - a fruitless one as it turned out. The realization made for an awkward pause.

Snow was looking at her husband with a frown and was about to turn to Regina to apologize for him when the mayor said:

"No, there's something else."

Now everybody looked at her surprised, even Emma and it was the blonde Regina turned to.

"I went back to the shop on Wednesday night when you were working," she told her, well aware that everyone else was listening, too.

"Why did you go there alone?" Emma asked.

"I didn't want for you to... have to go back there." Regina lowered her eyes to Emma's midsection and then up again. "I didn't want to risk you... getting sick again," she added for everyone else's benefit, though only Emma knew the real reason. She nodded for Regina to continue.

"And I found something," the dark-haired woman said. She reached for her purse and took a silver cube from it together with a compact. She lay both on the table. Everybody was looking curiously at the items. The cube had about the measurements of a Rubik's Cube but with smooth sides. It looked pretty unremarkable but even the most non-magical person in the room could feel the energy it gave off.

"What is it?" Grumpy asked. "What does it do?"

Regina opened the compact she had put next to it and turned it around so everyone could see the mirror. It didn't show their faces, it showed an empty room with stony walls, dark and kind of barren but not without shadowy beauty.

"Do you recognize it?" she asked Snow who nodded slowly.

"That's in your castle - my father's castle," she corrected herself and then wondered why she had even bothered. The castle hadn't been her father's for a while now.

"This cube can turn mirrors into portals. Look." Regina put her finger to the mirror and it disappeared into it. "Of course, this one's too small to walk through but I only wanted to see if it would work. It does."

"That's amazing. How did you find it?" Emma asked with a proud smile on her face. She was holding her hand out for the compact and Regina gave it to her.

Other people were talking as well, everybody seemed to have questions or something else to say. The only one who seemed quiet just now was David. He didn't look pleased with the discovery at all, but then most people were sure it had more to do with who had found it.

"I think it's a little bit... suspicious that you've been searching the shop for weeks now but the moment you're searching alone... this little, convenient solution just drops into your hands," he finally said in a voice that rose over everybody else's.

"You know, dad, I'm so fed up with your... accusations and suspicions. Regina found this because she'd been looking for something like this for weeks. Hook told her that Rumple may have had a device like this, okay? So just back off," she told him and everybody went instantly quiet.

"Hook told you?" David asked. "Funny, how he never mentioned anything like this to me." He looked over at the pirate who gave him a little rakish smile.

"Sorry, mate. I thought the Evil Queen could be persuaded to share her treasure with me. Now it seems like she's sharing it with everyone but me," Killian said looking back at Regina. "I thought we had an understanding, luv."

"We do and I'll make sure you'll be able to leave here - just like everyone else who wants to," Regina said. "Even though it wasn't my fault that you got stuck here," she added with a smile.

"I appreciate it," he said with a hint at a bow.

"Alright, alright, sweet talker, let's get back to the point here. How does that cube-thing work and when can we leave for home?" Grumpy asked into the room.

"It works with a spell and all we really need is a full-length mirror as gateway." As soon as Regina had said it mostly everybody started to talk excitedly again.

"We could be home for breakfast," Doc exclaimed.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, okay? I mean, we don't even know what's been going on in the Enchanted Forest since Snow and Emma have been there," David said.

"The castle looks peaceful, and it still stands," Sneezy argued.

"Really, we need to go at this rationally. I want to go home just as much as the rest of you but we should take some precautions. I think... I think just a few of us should go first, to have a look around, make sure things haven't gotten any worse since... Cora left." He was looking at Regina meaningfully and she gave him a very fake smile.

"I volunteer to go with Emma, if everbody's alright with that," Hook suggestd before anyone could say anything.

"Certainly not," Regina grumbled under her breath and Emma looked at her bemusedly.

"I'm not going," she then said and everybody looked at her in surprise.

"Emma, we know you don't want to live there but... you're the savior," Blue said and mostly everybody agreed with her.

Emma smiled a little bitter-sweetly. Of course, it said it all, she was the savior so everybody naturally thought she should go. There was no better reason for them to send her - but there was a better reason for her to stay where she was. She just wasn't sure if she should tell everyone.

Emma rose from her seat and looked around the room. She looked into hopeful faces, even David looked at her like he may consider her as his daughter again if she only did this. Then she looked at Regina who lifted a challenging eyebrow at her.

"I can't go," she said. "I know I'm the savior and that you... want me to be the hero but... the thing is... I may be pregnant."