Chapter twelve

Henry watched his mother curiously as she typed furiously at her laptop, apparently doing some important report for the town.

"You know you finished work an hour ago," he pointed out.

"Every time there's a crisis I always return to a pile of paperwork," she sighed, and Henry nodded in understanding.

"You can still take a break," he sighed and grabbed her laptop.

"Don't you have homework?" she laughed as the computer was placed out of her reach.

"Yes actually I do," he said rather dramatically, "ma said that I have to help you relax, so we're watching TV."

Regina nodded with a skeptical look on her face, and said, "she thinks I need to relax?"

"She said that she can feel the stress ooze from you or something and that it's not good for your health."

"Okay...and where is she?"

Henry shrugged and grabbed the remote, "she has something important to do."

"She doesn't have work tonight," Regina replied with a furrowed brow.

"It's not work, now please can we watch Avengers?" he pouted.

"We've watched it ten times," she laughed and he pouted more, "how about The Winter Soldier?"

He nodded instantly and jumped up to find the DVD, which was met with a chuckle from his mother.

At about five in the morning, Emma walked into the house to find her girlfriend and son fast asleep on the couch.

She let out a little, "aww" and pulled a blanket over the pair, before making her way upstairs to get some much needed sleep herself, at least for a couple hours.

Hours later Regina woke with an audible content yawn, and lightly nudged Henry until he sat up and rubbed his eyes, "how long were we asleep?" he asked.

Regina picked up her phone, expecting it to be about nine at night, and her eyes instantly widened once the blurriness disappeared to reveal that it was seven in the morning.

"Morning, sleepyheads," Emma greeted and placed cereal in front of Henry and coffee in front of Regina.

"Why would you let me sleep for that long, Emma?" Regina sighed and made to grab for her laptop.

Emma put her hand on top of it and shook her head, "because you had nothing else to do."

"Of course I..." Regina was cut off when a pile of paper was placed on the table.

"I got the work from your secretary, I figured you'd need sleep after a week of none, so I stayed up and did your work."

Regina stared at the papers in front of her and asked, "how could you have possibly finished it all in time?"

"I had a production line," Emma shrugged, "me, my parents, Ruby and Belle. You just have to sign it all."

Regina blinked a few times, before she let out a relieved sigh, and jumped up to give the other woman a sweet 'thank you' kiss.

"Are you sure that this is the best time to take a break?" Snow asked as she held up one of the tent poles.

Charming offered his wife a supportive smile, and attached the pole, finally finishing the tent.

"Emma said that she'll look after Neal, you know you love camping, just try and have some fun," he brought her into a one armed hug and kissed her temple.

"But..." she tried to protest.

"Regina's fine Snow," he assured.

"Then why hasn't Emma proposed yet?"

Charming furrowed his brow, and finally shrugged, "maybe she just got cold feet, she has tried a few times," he laughed, "it's fine, they're just adjusting."

"Is that why Emma also looks depressed?"

David thought about this for a second and sighed, "Well there's nothing we can do now, maybe babysitting will give her a much needed distraction. You did pack the dagger right?"

Snow nodded and brought it out of her bag.

"It'll be fine then," he smiled weakly, and set about starting a fire.

Regina stood in her vault, placing the newly acquired hearts into boxes, one for each fairy.

She had commanded each of them that they couldn't mention to anyone what she had done to them, and had allowed them to live, at least, for now.

She placed them with the others, and turned when she heard a familiar rustling.

"Emma?" she sighed, seeing her standing at the entrance, with widened eyes.

"What are you doing?" the blonde asked as she cautiously approached her girlfriend, though she hadn't seen what the mayor had been doing, she still found herself awfully suspicious of the expression on the woman's face.

"I decided to organise, is that a crime sheriff?" she drawled and pretended to begin alphabetising the already pristinely organised potion ingredients, "why are you here?"

Emma sighed and replied honestly, "I haven't seen you in a while, besides I need your help with Neal."

"You really trust the Dark One to look after your little brother?"

Emma furrowed her brow deeply, and replied, "What are you talking about?

"I heard you and Henry talking about how different I am; clearly I am not the person you loved anymore."

"I still love you as much as I did months ago, the difference is that I hardly see you anymore," Emma sighed and tried to put an arm around the smaller woman, who tensed and quickly stepped out of her reach.

"Please leave, Miss Swan, I am quite busy."

"No you are not," she finally shouted, "stop ignoring me and tell me what's wrong!"

"What's wrong is that I live in a town surrounded by idiots," she growled, "do you honestly believe that the point of my curse was to become a Charming?"

Emma's eyes widened, any sharp retorts dying on her tongue, "how...?"

"I am not as imbecilic as you; you left the ring in my bedside table for a week."

The blonde furrowed her brow a moment, and let out an exasperated sigh when she realised that the other woman was right. But then her shoulders sagged as the implications of Regina's words registered, "are you saying that you don't want to marry me?"

Regina tilted her head, a small part of her still trying to stave off the commands coming from across town, but she now found herself completely helpless against them, "you're forgetting dear that I am immortal now."

"So?" the blonde asked, a hint of desperation in her voice.

"You will be a distant memory to me soon enough, why would commitment be necessary?"

"Rumpel got married," Emma tried.

"Rumpel was over two hundred years old when he met Belle, his relationship with his first wife was not exactly a success. Do you not think it's possible that in the next couple centuries I could find some better than you?"

Pain flashed across the saviour's face, her girlfriend's words brought forth all of the times she had been told that she wasn't enough and all of the times that she had believed it.

"A-are you breaking up with me then?" she managed to ask the love of her life.

Regina shrugged casually, "I see no reason to maintain the facade."

Emma swallowed hard and nodded, a few tears made their way down her face, and she asked, "what about Henry?"

"I suppose the same principal applies," she shrugged, "you can have him."

"I can 'have him'?" the blonde asked incredulously, "he's our son, Regina."

"Technically he isn't my son, yet another pointless charade in the pursuit of happiness," she sighed.

Emma stared blankly at her for a moment, before she just nodded and turned on her heels, she still had a lot to process.

"Oh and Emma," Regina called, said woman quickly turned around with hope clear on her face, "do remember that 108 Mifflin Street is my home."

A/N Sorry this update took so long, but I have to be in a certain mood to write this fic, so I can't guarantee when the next chapter will be, but I'll try and make sure it doesn't take this long again :)

Hope you guys enjoyed and I would love to hear what you thought XD