Eight weeks had gone by since Emma's breakdown at the party, a whole two months and although things had gotten better, Regina wouldn't put too much faith into any given day. They each had their good and their bad days, as was expected but things could only go up from here, right?

Regina honestly hoped to any higher power that, this was the lowest point in their life. She really wasn't sure how much more they could take.

In the months since Hope, Emma had slowly gotten better and Regina could only be thankful for that. Their puppy certainly had a lot to do with the blonde's recovery and Regina was happy she had finally seemed to do something right, she had been blaming herself a lot lately for all that had happened. Logically, she knew none of it was really her fault, but she hated seeing Emma so miserable and not be able to help.

Although she had seen remarkable improvement in both of them lately, she still worried that they would slip back into their self-destructive behavior. That's why she had avoided the impressively thick packet hidden in her locked desk drawer in her home office, for what felt like an eternity.

She knew they both had to be in a good state mentally and physically before they even applied to adopt. Regina could honestly say, she now felt like they were finally there.

Sure they hadn't even talked about it yet, and she was just hoping Emma would be receptive to the idea but Regina could just feel that this would be good for them.

As she made her way into the house after a long day, and extended night at work something just felt off. All the lights in the house were turned off, meaning Henry was already in bed where he was meant to be at such an hour, but the brunette couldn't sense Emma. Usually their magic is so interconnected that Emma's mere presence can be felt by the brunette no matter where she is, right now all Regina was feeling was panic, and a impressively complex mix of emotions.

She knew it was her wife, but honestly she was afraid to face what she assumed was about to be a long, and complex conversation.

Slowly, she removed her coat and heels, dropping her purse in the closet by the door. Then she tried to come up with any excuse to delay walking into the kitchen where the quickly mounting emotions waited. When she couldn't find a good enough excuse, she sighed quietly to herself and made her way into the kitchen.

Almost immediately she realized Emma was stressed, about what she wasn't sure it could have been just about anything going on in town.

Then, Emma turned her gaze onto the brunette, and dropped the packet onto the table between them and Regina froze. Was Emma angry she had it? Maybe she just wasn't ready. Scenarios, good and bad ones, ran rampant through Regina's mind.

"When were you going to tell me about this?"

So, she was upset Regina hadn't told her? "When I felt you were ready, Emma. It's been a long few months and I didn't want to push you."

The panic enveloping the room only spiked at this admission, and Regina wondered if Emma was about to have yet another panic attack. "I haven't been that bad…" Emma's voice was low, sad, almost as if she couldn't believe she had let herself become so upset and withdrawn that Regina was even afraid to voice her opinions.

And in turn, Regina sighed and sat heavily in the chair across from the blonde. "You've been rather difficult to talk to, beyond the weather and Henry. I didn't want to overwhelm you, and I needed time too. I had to make sure this is what's best for our family before presenting the idea to you."

"I like it…"

Regina glanced up to meet her wife's gaze, unsure if she had really just heard the blonde agree with her.

It had been a while since they had been on the same page about damn near anything, and frankly the brunette was just relieved to hear they were finally getting back on track with each other.

A small smile crept into place on the brunette's face as she watched the blonde pull out a pen.

"Well, lets get this started then." Emma nodded, slowly pulling her chair around toward Regina and together they began to fill out the paperwork to start the adoption process.

And suddenly, Regina could see an ending to the nightmare they had been living in for nearly half a year now, she could see the happiness slowly returning. She could see Emma, slowly coming back to her loving and ever irritating self.

Once the packet had successfully been mailed back, several weeks went by with no contact with the adoption agency. Regina was anxiously calm, but cautious, Emma on the other hand had gone into full blown panicked excitement mode.

Regina often found the blonde pacing the living room by the house phone as if she were willing it to ring, she had honestly begun to think Emma would drive herself crazy waiting for information. Until, mercifully one day just shy of two months later, the phone rang.

There was a match, a little girl in New York, just born today, they had said the birth mother at first wanted an open adoption but changed her mind just minutes after the birth.

"Some scared teenage girl." Their agent had mumbled, and right then and there Emma knew they had to help this girl.

"We'll meet with her today, if you wish." Regina had to assure the woman it wouldn't be an issue with getting to New York in a timely manner.

She couldn't very well tell this woman she would just transport them to New York, and pretend they had just gotten really lucky in not getting caught speeding.

Of course, their agent agreed and said she would notify the hospital of their impending arrival.

Regina thanks the woman and hangs up, turning to Emma she grins slightly.

"What do you think we should wear to go meet our new baby?"

Emma breaks out into a smile of her own, and flings her arms around Regina's neck, squeezing a little before running off upstairs to pack some of their things knowing they would be there a few days.

As soon as everything is ready, Regina transports them, and her car to the outskirts of New York. Of course, knowing magic doesn't work outside of Storybrooke she was impressed to have gotten them that far.

The drive in was a silent one, filled with anxious excitement as they began to imagine life with their teenage son and a newborn.

Emma had to stop herself from imagining Hope in this baby's place, the child could never be her precious lost baby. However, she knew that this child could mean the beginning of something amazing.

As they pulled into the hospital's parking lot, Regina began to feel her own anxiety spike but in a good way. Together, they walked inside and up to the fourth floor where the signs directed the maternity ward was.

Once there, they explained the situation to one of the attending nurses who gladly let them into the ward and showed them the way to the room of the young mother who still currently had custody of their baby.

Regina knocked quietly, before pushing the door open and letting Emma and herself in.

"Hello there,-" Regina stopped mid-sentence to check the name on the whiteboard on the wall. "Jadelyn. My name is Regina, this is my wife, Emma. I assume someone has told you a bit about us, but in case it wasn't obvious, we're the couple adopting your daughter."

The teen smiled tiredly up at the brunette, as if she had just thrown her a life raft amidst a terrifyingly violent storm. "Yeah, the Swan-Mills couple, the nurse told me about you. And you can just call me Jade, we're sort of friends now you know since you'll be adopting my baby and all. Preferred name basis is normal among friends."

Regina smirked a bit, stunned by the teen's admirable vocabulary. When the agent had said "teenager" the brunette had been expecting a halfwit with no sense towards safe sex.

"Very well then, it's nice to meet you Jade. The agency told us you had wanted an open adoption, but changed your mind. Why is that?"

Regina sat quietly in one of the chairs beside the bed, as the girl seemed to think over her answer, Emma flopped down beside the brunette no doubt having issues with the whole scenario. They would talk about it later, of course, but Regina was sure Emma was reliving her time as a teenage mother.

"I just, don't want to get attached… She's yours, not mine. And seeing her, being allowed to know things and be with her would just be too hard."

Emma nodded, as if she knew exactly what the girl meant and truthfully she probably did. However Regina just felt plain sorry for the girl, and wholly confused. If it were her, she would want every opportunity to know about her child then again, she wouldn't have put her child up for adoption in the first place.

That wasn't to say she was mocking the girl, no, she was more than grateful for her choosing them to be her daughter's parents. She just felt like this was too easy, she had been down this road before and look how that had turned out.

"So, you want no contact at all after the two of you leave here. You're perfectly okay with that?"

The brunette could see the girl wasn't at all okay with it, but she clearly wanted what was best for the child.

"You know you don't have to lie to us, if you want to see her, be involved in any way we won't stop you. How could we deny the woman whose helping us to complete our family?"

The girl was visibly shocked, but relief flooded her face as what Regina had just said sunk in. "You really don't mind? I wouldn't want much, just updates and pictures now and then. I'm not sure I could handle seeing her."

The relief was mutual when Jade said she didn't wish to see her, pictures and letters were easy enough. However, getting the young woman in and out of Storybrooke without exposing magic was a completely different story.

"I think we can handle that, no problem. It's the least we can do for you, and if you ever do change your mind and want to see her… I'm sure we could work something out."

Regina wanted to be as open with this girl as possible, after all she was giving away a part of her to be raised by near strangers, the least they could do was offer her some way to still see her child grow up, even if it was from afar.

"Thank you, so much. You have no idea what that means to me."

And though Regina really didn't, she could see the relief and pain clouding Emma's eyes as she remembered having to give Henry away, and not having someone to be nearly as nice to her as they were being with Jade.

"It's the least we can do. Now, can we see her?"

Jade nodded, and called one of the nurses to bring the baby from the nursery. Regina and Emma both waited on baited breath, as the plastic hospital crib was wheeled into the room.

The baby was removed and passed over to Jade, who tried her best not to look like she had just been dropped in the middle of an ocean without so much as an idea of how to swim.

"She's been a pretty good baby so far, quiet, doesn't demand much."

Regina smiled, nodded a bit as she and Emma moved closer to get a better look at her, she really was a beautiful baby.

Jade quickly offered the child up to them, and Regina took her into her arms with practiced ease.

Emma backed up then, the panic causing her to shut down all emotions quickly. She was terrified of somehow hurting this baby, terrified of somehow losing her. She was doing her best to keep herself together, but she knew this was going to be one of the longest weekends of her life.

At first, Regina didn't push the idea, she knew Emma still had that fear to work through but the longer she stood there, falling more and more in love with this baby.

The more she realized she was going to have to push Emma out of that comfort zone. Carefully and slowly, the brunette walked over to her wife. When there was nothing but the baby keeping them from being pressed together, Regina gently handed her off watching the way Emma's instincts quickly kicked in to hold the baby close.

She didn't want to be afraid, didn't want to hurt or lose this baby, and that's what was making this so horrible. These emotions… were nothing like what it felt like to hold Hope. She was cold, unmoving, completely lifeless. This baby made her think of what it should have been like to hold their daughter and she just couldn't handle it.

Her eyes watered as she passed the baby back to Regina and excused herself out into the hallway. She wasn't ready no matter how beautiful or amazing this baby was, she wasn't Hope. And yet, all those feelings came rushing back in a whirlwind as she sat in the hallway, trying to pull herself back together.