After loading up and finishing three plates, Emma sat back with a very satisfied grin. "I don't think I could eat another bite. That was probably the most amazing meal I have ever had."

"High praise given how often you dine here each week." Regina sassed, blushing lightly at the praise.

"Regina, seriously, this was delicious. You both made an amazing meal. Thank you so much." Belle twined her fingers with Ruby, seeing her own blush tint her cheeks.

Kissing the back of Ruby's hand, Belle turned back to the other women, knowing they did need to address things before they had any further interruptions. "Emma, I think you should start the discussion. I know you are probably anxious to get your part out of the way."

Straightening in her seat, Emma gave Belle a brief nod before locking her gaze with Regina's. "I'm sorry. I had no right to keep anything from you, even if it was meant to protect you. I didn't think things through properly from your side of things, and I will admit I also was a bit scared of how you would react to the news. I already love you Regina, and regardless of anything that has gone on in the past few days, that won't change for me. I just hope you can forgive me for not putting everything out there right away."

Fixing the blonde with a stern glare for several moments, until she began to fidget in her seat, Regina finally let her mask slip away. "We've already been over this Emma, I'm not going to just toss you away, regardless of outside circumstances. You are stuck with me, like it or not."

"If there's more meals like this in my future, I think I am getting the better end of this arrangement." Laughing loudly and grinning from ear to ear, Emma felt the tension in her shoulders relax. 'Our mate knows we would never hurt her intentionally.'

"That's it?! All that build-up about needing to talk, and you let her off with a glare?!" Ruby stared at the two grinning ladies across from her. "Seriously?!"

Unable to contain their laughter, Emma and Regina started chuckling, which soon Belle joined in on, followed shortly by Ruby herself. As the laughter began to taper off, all four women wiping tears from their eyes, Belle was the first to speak. "After everything we have seen between Emma and Regina, that is far from 'it'. Emma apologized for what she did, in earnest, and Regina has acknowledged and accepted her apology. They both understand where the wrong was, and why it happened. But rest assured our dear mate is likely going to have to grovel before she gets another meal like this one anytime soon, at least from this kitchen." Laughing again at the shocked pout that had graced Emma's lips as she spoke, Belle turned to Regina. "How close am I?"

"Very close, but it wouldn't do to starve a growing werewolf. She might go feral and attack my refrigerator if we don't keep her properly fed." Pausing for a moment to share a small smile with Belle, Regina began speaking again. "Now that we have broached the topic, I would like ask, did your wolf speak for you last night as well? Are you drawn to me as your mate as well?"

Sitting up straight, Emma put as much conviction and emotion into her words as she could. "Although my wolf is still somewhat separate, it is very much a part of me. What the wolf said is true, we are drawn to you as our mate. I know that may be a lot to take in, hell everything that has happened over the past few days is, but I know how I feel, how my wolf feels, and I won't run from it." Watching as Regina picked up her coffee for a sip, Emma couldn't hold back her own question any longer. "How do you feel about it? About everything?"

"Truthfully, I really haven't had much time to process anything yet. There are so many things that have changed seemingly overnight, but at the same time, it feels like nothing has really changed at all. I have been taking a page from your book, and have been 'following my gut' about everything, and so far, nothing has seemed wrong." Pausing for another sip of her coffee, Regina looked at the women around her while considering her next words. She knew how she was feeling, and hoped that saying things aloud may help them understand as well.

"The most surprising thing for me is that I don't feel more upset about Robin and you having ejected him from the house today. I am angry that he would betray me like that, but I think in my heart I knew that he wasn't the right person for me. Maybe many years ago I would have been able to be the person he wants, but at the same time, I feel like I would have eventually been just as unhappy with him as I was with the King. He is very much the typical noble in his attitudes regarding women and their station, but having my mother as a role model, as terrible as she was, I never truly saw women as being the weaker sex. In some cases, although physically weaker, women were often the ones to provide the real strength to a family and kingdom. As much as my mother sought power, she was smart and needed a great deal of strength to get to where she did." Blushing, Regina quickly realized that her ramblings had given voice to her innermost musings from the past few years. She knew that her mother was evil without her heart, and that she had done many terrible things to many people, herself included. But she also understood all too well her mother's struggles in having any say in her own station in life and destiny.

Uncertain at how the other women at the table would take her confession, Regina quickly began explaining further. "I am not saying the way she went about things was right, or that any of the things she did was permissible in any way, but being raised to be a ruler the way she did, it give me a bit more of a spine when it came to many things in my life. If I had gone into that tavern that night and met Robin, I think I would be in the same place that I am now. I think I would have been in just as much pain, and that eventually it would have led me to the same path. Not through destiny or fate, but simply because the core parts of my personality would rebel, and I would be unable to force myself to submit to someone simply because they were male."

"Never really thought about it like that." Ruby was the first to speak, the table having been shocked into silence at the admission. "For what it's worth, I know we are all sorry that he treated you like that. We should have said something sooner."

"I don't think it would have made a difference, dear. I wouldn't have listened to you until I was ready to hear it. Seems I'm stubborn in that regard." Chuckling dryly, Regina found that her coffee was gone, so instead she began playing with her mug. "At least your reason for not telling me was out of consideration. But in the future, I would appreciate it if I could be given all the information and allowed to make my own decisions from there, from all of you."

Seeing all three women nod their agreement, Regina decided to broach the main topic, certain that the other women would avoid it as long as possible. "As for my reception of the idea, I would not necessarily be opposed to something like this, but for now, I think I will have to ask that you give me time to process and properly mourn my previous relationship. I haven't had the healthiest way of dealing with break-ups in the past, and would like to avoid any of my darker tendencies if possible. I am, however, interested in building our friendships. Is that something you each would be interested in?"

Emma knew that she couldn't fault Regina's logic, but she still felt the sting of disappointment that Regina wished to remain only friends for now. She would never push her, especially given how drastically things had changed in all of their lives in the past few days, but she had hoped that perhaps Regina had already felt some of the draw that she recognized as their mate bond. Even if a friend was all that she could ever be to Regina, she would still love her from afar, and that would have to be enough for her. "I won't speak for anyone else, but I think that's more than fair."

Belle was unsurprised at Regina's declaration, and secretly was pleased that she was taking the time to truly get to know them, something she had not really done with Robin Hood. Although they all came from the same land, and had known each other through various means, not to mention the pull she felt to the dark Queen, Belle had had very little experience in the past with relationships. Rumplestiltskin had been her first relationship, and it had not been consensual on her part. Her relationship with Ruby had always been lurking below the surface, even when she was her cursed self, and when she was freed from Rumple, she easily moved into her first real relationship. She had gotten to know Emma over time, and their relationship felt as natural a progression as learning to run after learning to walk. But Regina had always been a bit aloof, and as much as she knew about the brunette, there was still so much more that she wanted to know, needed to know before allowing herself to fall. "I think that is a wonderful idea Regina. It would be nice to know everything about you, not just what I have learned in small bits."

Ruby was torn. Her instincts were rebelling at her, demanding she claim her mate, but her human rationale was fighting back that she needed to give Regina time to truly know them all, and to fall for them on her own. "You both are right. It would be great to get to know you better, and to see where things go from there. No need to rush. Maybe we could do things together that we are all interested in, and just spend some time that way?"

"That sounds like a very good plan. I greatly enjoyed having someone in the kitchen with me who I didn't have to worry would set a pot of water on fire." Sneaking a glance at the blonde, who wore a look of offence, Regina grinned at Ruby. "I think at the new house, there should be a sprinkler system in the kitchen, just in case."

"Hey, that only happened, like twice!" Emma grumbled, causing the other women to burst into laughter again. "It's not that funny!" Pouting and crossing her arms, Emma waited as the laughter slowly died out.

"Regardless, I think it would be wonderful to spend time around each other and get to know each other. Since Emma and I will be working closely for the next few days on your new home and the repairs around town, perhaps we could all have dinner here for the next few nights?" Brilliant smiles lit up at Regina's suggestion, and she was secretly ecstatic that she would have time for herself as well as with all three women. "And I know that this all still fairly new to everyone, but given that there are a number of rumours already going around town, I think that before dinner this evening would be a good time to talk to Henry about all of the changes. What do you think?"

"I think that would be best. Snow and David are already aware of the changes with me, so it would be best for Henry to hear about it from us first before anyone else. Although, I think we may need to discuss what to tell Henry, in general. We haven't really talked about things much ourselves." Emma mused.

"Well, Henry is a very smart young man, and well versed in fairy tales. I don't think it would be much of a leap for him to understand prophesy, not to mention the True Love aspect of things." Smiling to herself, Belle began to list all of the book on prophesy that she thought Henry would enjoy. "I would hope to be able to share some of my texts that I think he would find enlightening."

"Not to mention the kid already loves my milkshakes, so I don't see there being any issue with having me around more often." Grinning, Ruby winks at the ladies around the table. "Kids gotta get his sugar-fix somewhere."

"I think Miss Swan has that covered in spades, dear." Raising a single eyebrow, Regina attempted to glare at Ruby, but found a smile breaking through almost immediately. "But back to the task at hand. Emma, why don't we go take a look at the house this morning, and see if we can get it finished for you. I know that you are eager to get moved in there, now that you are no longer living at the loft. Do you ladies have to be at work today, or would you be able to accompany us there?"

Sharing a brief look, Ruby and Belle smiled. "I think we can afford a day off to go see our new home."

Standing outside the house, Regina could see all of the work that had been put into the building. It was amazing the different that Emma had been able to make without anyone know it was her. "You did all of this by yourself?"

Shuffling awkwardly, Emma put her hands into her back pockets before shrugging. "I like working with my hands to fix things. It's not a big deal."

"Emma, technically I created this house, and I had 28 years to know just what condition it was in for all of those years. When did you find the time to get all of this done?" Regina was shocked at the changes she saw around the interior of the house. The house itself had been a representation of the kind of home that she hoped that she and Daniel would have shared, filling it with their children and their love. It had everything she could want, as did her own mansion, when she enacted the curse. But her dreams had long since been crushed, and the curse had manifested that in the rot and crumbling structure that should have been her dream home.

At one point, she had made enquiries into having the home restored, and was told in no uncertain terms that the house was almost to the point of being condemned, and that she would be better off to tear the house down and build new. It had hurt to hear that like her dream, the house could not be saved. Regina had never truly looked at it again, until today, but she did not know how to explain any of what she was feeling about the house, or its origins to the women around her.

"Here and there, whenever I had time. Most of the interior work I did when I couldn't sleep at night and the bigger stuff I usually did when there were events going on that I didn't need to be there for. I just wanted space and something to keep me busy." Shrugging off the awed look in the brunette's eyes, Emma shifted uncomfortably.

"You did this when you felt like running, didn't you?" Ruby spoke up, knowing that Emma was only truly shy about things that she considered deeply personal.

"I wanted to have a home, somewhere that was safe from everyone and everything. I've never really had that, aside from when I had my bug." Running her hand along the carved wood railings of the front porch, Emma refused to meet any of their eyes.

Knowing that Emma was silently waging a war in her own mind, waiting for one or all of them to tell her that her efforts were not good enough, to reject her hard work, and by extension her, Belle stepped forward to wrap her in a gentle embrace. With her arms around Emma's neck, she played gently with the fine hairs there. "The house you have been building is truly stunning Emma. Thank you for everything you have done for our home, and for asking us to come live with you here." Placing a small kiss on her lips, Belle stepped back, slipping her hand into Emma's and giving it a squeeze. "Why don't you show us around?"

"Yeah! This place is huge. It reminds me of my cottage back in the Enchanted Forrest, only much, much larger. You up for playing tour guide, so we don't get lost?" Ruby grinned, sending Emma a wink, before looping her arm around Regina's.

Shocked that Ruby was being so casual about holding her arm, Regina struggled to reconcile her thoughts and feelings. 'It is unexpected, but doesn't feel the least bit awkward. I think I think I should feel uncomfortable, maybe guilty for finding this as relaxing as it is, especially after the scene this morning with Robin, but just like last night, it feels right somehow." Forcing the thoughts from her mind, Regina allowed herself to follow her gut-instincts, and simply placed her hand over Ruby's and turned to Emma and Belle expectantly.

Leading the way up the front stairs, Emma began describing the work she had done. "When I first bought the place, everything was pretty run down. I started by pulling out all of the rotten wood, and stripped it down to the bare frame. Surprisingly, everything seems to be mostly surface rot. Couldn't tell that from when I did the initial inspection. If I were to take a guess, no one would be able to tell without tearing things apart. Lucky for me, the base of everything seemed to just need a lot of work."

"I have a bunch of tools in the garage from when I did restorations work, a bunch more I got from Marco at a great price. After I put the new boards down for the base, I hand-carved the top rails and spindles from some trees that were downed in the back yard. Saved a ton using the trees, and got a bunch of the clean-up done too." Absently running her hand over the smooth railings, Emma continued on towards the door. "This was the original door. It was in pretty rough shape, but I managed to salvage it. I stained in a deep cherry to kind of look like yours, actually, only the natural version. There is just something about a red door that makes me think of home." Turning to Regina, Emma blushed slightly, gesturing to the porch for inspection.

The women examined the wood work, noting the many small details that you would miss if you didn't look closely. "How many trees were down back there? It looks like you would need a forest for all the wood on just the porch here alone. Does it go the whole was around?" Ruby asked, half to herself. Just at the front of the house alone she had counted at least 50 spindles.

"Some of the branches were quite long. It actually came mostly from 2 trees, believe it or not. I was able to get 10 pieces from one branch. And there was one tree that was down completely. It was pretty massive, and I had a lot of fun taking the chainsaw to it to get more manageable pieces." Smirking at Regina, Emma gestured toward the side of the house. "How about I show you what's left of it?"

Belle quickly rejoined Emma's side, linking their hands, as Ruby again took Regina's arm. Making their way around the side of the house, Belle and Ruby were surprised at the true size of the house. "This place is massive! I never realized just how big it really it!"

"I am quite surprised as well. And what is that building over there. I thought it was the garage, but I looks more like another house or a bran from this side." Belle squeezed Emma's hand, who returned the gesture with a smile.

"It's actually a bit of both. I was confused by it as well when I first bought the place. The exterior looks like a barn, but there are 4 garage doors on the side. Inside it was actually completely empty space, same with the second floor." Looking to Regina, Emma continued. "I think that the curse didn't quite know what to do with it, as it seems like a mash-up of both. I redid the floor in concrete on the main level, and turned the back half of it into a workshop. That's where all the tools that I use on the house are. There are also a bunch of car maintenance tools there too, although I haven't used them much since the Bug died."

Ruby blushed at Belle's statement, but did not speak up. She had felt terrible for months about having landed on Emma's car, as she knew just how much the Bug meant to the blonde. That was part of the reason she had insisted on helping her shop for her new vehicle. That and she knew just what the blonde should be driving.

"You really have done a lot of work here Emma. This is truly amazing. Would you like to give us the grand tour of our new home?"