A/N: Hey, ya'll. It's Sunday! Don't be fooled by my sunny disposition, here. The chapter starts out a little darker. There is a minor character death (Daniel). Also, TW for car accidents in case that brings up anything. It's not all sad, though, and if any of you don't like this chapter, I want to know at what age you found out you were heartless. lol. I'm joking. Chiste, chiste.

I wrote the part where Regina is talking about Daniel's death to the song, "By the Grace of God" by Katy Perry. It just popped up on my spotify radio while I was typing, and really fit the mood, so I put it on repeat. I would suggest listening to it, even if you're a fan of neither Katy Perry, nor the man upstairs. It really, really, brings out the emotions of that part and gives you the full effect.

Either way, I hope you all enjoy the update. As I said before, I'm in a good mood (HINT: It's because I just got done writing the end of this chapter and it's reeeeeaaaalllly good, guys.)

Love always,
~R.

"I think I'm ready," she whispered to the blonde. "I think I'm ready to talk about things with you."

The blonde nodded her head as a sad smile passed onto her lips. She leaned forward and placed a kiss on the brunette's forehead. "Take your time. I'll still be here holding you when you're finished."

"I don't know. It's really a lot to talk about. To take in," Regina warned.

"I've got time, Reggie," both women smiled at the use of the nickname, as it broke the uncomfortable air around them and made it seem a little more bearable.

Regina let out a huge, shaking breath and questioned, "Where do I start?"

"I've heard the beginning is a pretty good spot."

"Yes, well I don't think you need to hear about my infant years right now. Maybe in the future." If you choose to stay after this.

"I'd like that," Emma reached up and pushed a short strand of brunette hair behind the professor's ear. "I'd like that very much. But perhaps you could start by telling me about Henry's baby years." The blonde knew Regina liked her a lot, and hoped the woman would always trust her with everything that upset her, but she still wasn't sure how far to push. Still, she thought she should at least try, "Maybe his father. If you're feeling up to it, that is."

Regina nodded her head, "You know Henry now. He's not much different than he was. Just bigger and now able to form semi-coherent sentences," both women chuckled at that. While Henry could speak, his words sometimes jumbled and his tenses were still incorrect, much like any four-year-old's. It made him that much more endearing.

"Daniel, though," Regina began, but stopped short.

Emma thought back to all the Daniels she had ever heard about, met, or seen since she had known Regina. Only one stuck out in her head.

"Henry's T-rex?" the blonde asked, confused

Regina just gave a sad laugh in return, "That is the name of Henry's T-rex, yes, but I'm speaking of his father."

"Oh." This makes so much more sense. Emma thought to herself, trying not to chuckle at her idiocy. Now was not the time for laughter. But I just thought the kid was a little eccentric with naming things. I mean, he had a brontosaurus named Tyrone.

"I'm really glad you never judged his name for the T-rex. Henry was young when he lost his father, and I'm sure he doesn't quite remember him, but sometimes he does something so like his Daniel that I can't help but think he still holds some memories. He was two. It's been two and a half years, but I just can't-" Regina started to sob, and Emma was right there to hold her.

"It was snowing and he was driving and Henry was in the back. I'm so glad I made sure to check Henry's buckles because… because…" Now the brunette shook in Emma's arms, the blonde holding as tightly as she could. She rocked Regina back and forth, whispering to her.

"Let it out, Reggie," Emma told her. "Let it all out. I'm here. I'm always here for you."

It took long minutes before Regina stopped sobbing. The two sat in silence, Emma still cradling the brunette in her arms, planting soft, soothing kisses to the crown of Regina's head.

"He was driving and-" Regina paused again, trying to hold back the sobs that were threatening to begin again.

"You don't have to say anymore tonight, Regina." Emma stopped her from going any further, using her real name to show how serious she was. "You've been through a lot, and you've trusted me with so much already, I wouldn't blame you if you stopped."

"No," strong mocha eyes met hazel. "I told you I was ready to talk, and I'm going to. I don't care how hard it is, you need to hear this. I can't keep being unfair to you like this."

"Regina-"

"No. Please. If not for you, for me," the professor begged. "It's been so long, Emma, and I haven't talked about it once. Please let me. For both of us."

Emma could do nothing but nod. She would never tell Regina what she could and could not do, especially on such a topic. The brunette needed someone to talk to, and if that was Emma, then the blonde was more than willing to listen.

"He was driving and Henry was in the back. I… I saw the truck coming to the stop sign, but I didn't say anything. I figured it would stop. But it was icy, and I'm still not sure if it was the ice or the imbecilic driver's inability to stop, but the truck kept coming.

"The last thing I remember is yelling his name right before the accident. It was just like the movies. You see the lights in the window and bam. It's all there and gone so fast."

Emma watched as the brunette's eyes glazed over with a threatening tidal wave of unshed tears. The blonde wanted to stop Regina. It was all too hard for the Emma to hear. She could only imagine how hard it was for the brunette to live and now relive. But Regina said she needed this, so Emma stayed rooted in her position.

"It all happened so fast. I was conscious. I wasn't. I was again. I woke up in an ambulance, screaming for Henry and Daniel. They told me my son was safe. Virtually unharmed. Seemingly protected by some unseen miracle force, but my husband. They said they couldn't tell me. They weren't sure. They needed to focus on me first.

"I woke up days later in the hospital. When I was allowed visitors, my parents were the first ones in. It was them. Not Daniel. Not Henry. They said Henry was his aunt Kathryn in the waiting room, and they needed to be with me when the doctor came.

"I knew something was wrong. Daniel should've been there. Then the doctor came in and broke the news. Obviously, I was devastated. I was twenty-six, I had a husband, and a two-year-old, and the perfect life. Then I was twenty-six, a single mother of a two -year-old, and a widow. To top it all off, I had a miscarriage of a baby I didn't even know I was pregnant with."

Emma stared at the woman in front of her in awe. Regina was cradled in her arms, hair slightly mussed from when she let Emma hold her tightly, mascara streaming down her face, eyes slightly puffy from the tears she was shedding in that moment. The woman was a mess. A heart-breaking, beautiful mess of a woman that Emma loved.

Regina steeled her heart, wanting more than anything to look at Emma, but not wanting to see the pity she thought she'd find in the blonde woman's eyes.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I promised myself I wouldn't cry."

Emma was stunned. She wanted nothing more than to argue with Regina. To tell the woman that it was okay to cry,. That she deserved to shed tears whenever she felt the need to. That it was only human. That it only added to the love and admiration that Emma felt for her. She just couldn't find the words, so she settled on what she knew in her heart.

"You're beautiful."

Regina's head snapped up so quickly Emma was sure she should've had whiplash.

"Excuse me?" the brunette's look of confusion was so great that Emma would've laughed at it under different circumstances. Instead, the blonde just pulled Regina further into her and held her tighter.

"You're beautiful," Emma repeated, sounding as sure as she would if she told someone her name was Emma. "You're beautiful and you're strong and you're a doofus for thinking that you shouldn't deserve to cry over something like this, or that this would make me leave."

"I'm not a doofus, Emma. I'm broken," Regina argued weakly, allowing herself to be held in Emma's arms as she did so. "I'm a mess. I'm more than positive I look like a disaster in this exact moment. I have so much baggage. Anyone in their right mind would run right now, and I wouldn't blame them."

"I think we established that I'm wasn't in my right mind the day we met, Reggie," Emma replied softly, giving the woman a tight squeeze and pressing her lips lightly to her brunette locks. "And I'm sure as hell not like anyone else. I have baggage, too. I have a history. We all do. It's what makes us human. If you'll accept mine, I'll accept yours."
"You're not an axe murderer, are you?" Regina joked, pulling out of the woman's arms to look into her eyes.

"No." Emma let out a small, sad laugh before she finished, showing nothing but seriousness in her eyes, "But I was a foster kid, and even though I'm done with that stage in life, I still have stories and memories that can never be effaced from my mind; from my life."

Regina nodded her understanding. She wasn't a foster child. She had never been in the system, but she heard stories. She knew it wasn't easy for those children. Some were lucky, but from the past she read in Emma's eyes, she wasn't sure the blonde was one of those kids.

"Those are stories for a different time, though," Emma transitioned easily. She didn't want to compare stories with Regina. She didn't want the woman feeling like Emma was trying to upstage her; to prove who was more damaged. "I think we're both spent for the night."

"Would you like to stay?" Regina asked in a whisper, falling back into the woman's arms.

"Would you like me to stay?" Emma responded, just as quietly. There was a sudden calm that had fallen in the room, and neither woman wanted to be the one to break it.

"Please." The word came out shaky, not something normal from the strong, commanding woman Regina normally portrayed.

"I'd love to."

Regina stood and placed her hand between her and Emma, asking the woman to take it. When Emma did so, she did with a smile and a peck to the back of an olive-toned hand.

The owner of the house led her guest up the stairs. When she reached her bedroom door, she turned on her heel and smirked weakly at the woman behind her.

"Does your earlier statement of not sleeping with me, but next to me still stand, or are you having second thoughts now that I've turned into a damsel in distress," Regina joked, but it, like her smirk, was weak.

"You know, I do remember saying, 'sober, drunk, or totally begging for it,' but I never mentioned damsel in distress, did I?" Emma joked back, pulling the woman flush against her while laughter split the air around both of them. "No, Regina," Emma assured. "I would never take advantage of you."

"And if I wanted you to?" The brunette questioned quietly.

"I would tell you no," the blonde replied truthfully. "Not tonight at least."
"I don't want you thinking I'm fragile, Emma," Regina said firmly. "I don't want you to think that I'm breakable when we decide to do that. I am a grown woman and I know what I want when I want it."

"You see, this is where you're going wrong, Reggie," Emma smiled down at the woman. "I know you're not fragile. You're the strongest person I've ever met. You prove it to me every day. It's not you or your past that's stopping me from having sex with you. It's my respect for you."

Regina swooned internally, but externally stood on her tiptoes to reach the blondes lips.

"And to think I labelled you as a bumbling idiot when I first met you. Now you always know exactly what to say, don't you?"

Regina spun around and opened the door to her bedroom. Emma stood still, processing the woman's words. Before long, Emma heard a chuckle from inside the room and a, "You can enter anytime, dear". Shaking her head, Emma did just that.

"What side of the bed do you prefer?" Ever the hostess, Regina chose to ask.

"Doesn't matter. Whatever side you don't."

"Well I tend to migrate towards the middle, so I guess you'll be sleeping on the floor unless you pick a side," the brunette walked out of the closet she was in and stared at the blonde, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

"Touché," both women laughed again before Regina disappeared back into her closet.

Emma sat on the edge of the bed, choosing to wait and watch what side Regina migrated towards before she would choose the other. There was no way she was making the brunette uncomfortable in her own bed.

The blonde didn't know how lost she had gotten in her own thoughts until she heard Regina saying her name, and not for the first time, if the brunette's expression was anything to go by.

"Emma? Are you alright?" Regina questioned.

"Hmmm? What?" Emma snapped back to reality. "What'd you say?"

"You must be more tired than you let on," the other woman observed. "I was saying that it seems all my pajama sets are in the wash today. I forgot to switch them over before you came. All I have left are a few night dresses."

"It's your bed, you wear what you're comfortable with," Emma answered, understanding how Regina could be a bit forgetful with all that must've been on her mind

"As long as you're alright with it." Seeing Emma give a small nod, Regina turned back to her walk-in closet, closing the door and starting to strip off her clothes. "Emma dear," she called through the closed door.
"Yeah?" She heard the muffled reply.

"If you've not already seen my glasses on the table to the left of the bed, I suppose I could tell you the right side is all yours."

Regina held back laughter as she heard an amused snort and the rustle of her comforter. She looked down at her sleepwear, wondering just how Emma would react when she stepped out of the closet. The brunette was nervous about Emma seeing her this way, but when she heard Emma make a quip about her coming out of the closet in more ways than one, she decided she'd have to leave eventually.

Slowly, Regina swung the door open and walked into the room. She may have been shaking with fear, but she was not going to let the blonde see her nervous like that. Not that Emma would've noticed. She was too busy trying to pick her mouth up from the floor.

"R-regina?"

"Yes, dear?" the brunette tried to sound normal, even a little sexy, but her insecurities were shining through her shaky voice. No one had seen her in this sort of sleepwear. Not even Daniel.

"That's not a nightgown," the blonde stated dumbly.

"I never said it was, dear."

"Y-y-you said," Emma paused, trying to regain her voice, and hopefully stop the stuttering that she was currently suffering from. "You said nightgown."

"Actually, I used the words 'night dress'."

"But that is not a night dress Regina. That's underwear," Emma argued.

Regina placed her arms akimbo and stared at the blonde currently occupying her bed, "This is much more modest than underwear, Emma. This is a deep purple negligé made from the finest silk around. It's one of my more modest pieces, if I must be honest. And, truthfully, I didn't think you would complain."

Emma noted the anger in the brunette's voice, and chose to rectify her errors. "No, I'm definitely not complaining," she assured. "In fact, I'm only arguing because you're drop-dead gorgeous, and I'm an idiot. And, Jesus Christ," the blonde raised a hand and put it over her eyes, "get into this bed and under these covers right now because if you don't I'll…"

"You'll what, Emma?" the brunette husked, walking closer to the blonde and grabbing her wrist to move it from her eyes. "What will you do?"

"Fuck it."

The blonde stood from the bed and wrapped her arms around Regina. Before she knew what was happening, she was thrown back onto the middle of the bed with a certain blonde woman straddling her hips and kissing her neck.

Regina couldn't help but let out a noise of shock, followed by giggles as the blonde made her way up the column of the brunette's throat. She had always been a bit ticklish. These noises only spurred Emma on, though, and the blonde let out a primal growl.

With one hand holding Regina's arms above her head and the other holding her hip just as firmly, Emma finally tore herself from the luscious and curvy body beneath her.

"Emma?"

"I'm sorry, Regina," Emma looked down at her sincerely. "I'm trying to hold myself back. I promised I'd woo you and I still plan to."

"You don't think wooing me with your bedroom skills will work? Maybe I'm not too sure about this anymore," Regina joked with a smirk.

"Oh, trust me. You'll be more than wooed with my skills. I have a really great work ethic. I'm willing to keep working harder and harder until the job is thoroughly completed," Emma said, watching the brunette's eyes dilate in suspense. "But, I can't tonight. I was talking about respect earlier and doing this now- no matter how hot and bothered you make me, or how much I want to ravish you when I see you in this- it would take all that I meant and throw it out the window, and I did mean everything I said."

Regina just stared up at the woman, her chest still heaving. "Why do you have to be perfect?" she groaned out, grabbing the woman and dragging her back down for a kiss. "You're the most infuriatingly perfect person I know."

"Trust me. I want it, too. God, do I want it. I just want it to mean more than just me having my way with you. I want it to be special," Emma explained. "There will be plenty of times for me to fuck your brains out later, but I'm going to make sure you feel like a queen- like the most beautiful and loved woman in the world- our first time."

"But I want you to fuck my brains out now," the brunette whined childishly, causing both women to laugh.

"Did Regina Mills just swear?" the blonde above her asked with wide eyes and a smirk. "I think I just heard Regina Mills swear."

"I'll have you know that when I'm frustrated- especially when sexually so- I can have quite the mouth on me."

"Oh, I'm sure you have quite the mouth on you, Reggie," Emma winked and rolled off her. "That, however, will have to be tested at a different time and date. I'm ready to snuggle the hell out of you for the night."

Regina watched as Emma rolled off the bed and hit the floor with a loud thud before jumping to her feet.

"Are you alright, dear?" She asked, trying not to giggle at the blonde woman's antics.

"Yeah. I just thought it would be less work than having to turn sideways and hang me feet over the edge of the bed and then use my muscles to stand myself up," the blonde explained, exasperatedly.

"And was it less work?"

"Yeah, but I think I bruised my ass."

Regina removed herself from the bed as well, and helped Emma pull back the covers. They both lied down facing one another and just smiling. Eventually, Emma's face turned to something of amusement.

"What?" Regina asked. "Do I have popcorn in my teeth or something because I swear I brushed them."

"No. Not at all."

"Then what are you smirking about?" She questioned, annoyed.

"I was just thinking that it's going to be kind of hard to sleep with the lights on, but I don't want either of us to have to leave the bed to shut them off because I like looking at you."

"I can solve that problem," the brunette smiled and raised two hands in the air. Clapping twice, the lights turned themselves off.

"NO. FREAKING. WAY."

"Yes freaking way, dear," Regina chuckled as the blonde continued to make sounds of astonishment before clapping her hands together multiple times, effectively flickering the lights on and off.

Eventually, Regina reached over and grabbed her hands to stop her, "Emma, dear, that is enough. You'll have plenty of chances to play with them in the future."

"Will I?" the blonde waggled her eyebrows at her girlfriend.

"Yes. Now clap two more times and shut the lights off."

"Yes, professor," Emma smiled at the sigh that left Regina's lips. She was not lost on the way the woman felt about Emma using her title.

"Goodnight, Emma," Regina said, starting to turn away.

"Wait, wait, wait," the blonde stopped her with a hand around her waist and pulled her in for a kiss. "I love you. Even if you aren't ready to say it back, I want you to know it."

"I-" the brunette scrunched her brows together. She loved Emma. She did. She would shout it from the rooftops if she could, but it was so terrifying just to say such a thought out loud.

"Regina, it's okay, really," Emma reassured.

"I…" Deep breath in. Deep breath out, Regina. "I love you, Emma. So much."

Even with the lights off, the room was lit up by the smiles reflecting off of both faces.

Emma stared at the woman across from her, knowing just how much it took for her to say such a thing.

"Did I tell you you were amazing?" the blonde questioned, pulling Regina into a hug and giving her little kisses all over the face. "Because you are amazing. And I love you."

The giggles that erupted from Regina's mouth paired with Emma's reaction told her she had said the right thing. The brunette had never felt so carefree and loved before. The weight that had been on her shoulders suddenly disappeared as Emma kissed her.

"Now I said I was gonna snuggle the hell out of you, amazing woman, so get comfortable because I'm ready to snuggle you, Snugglebug."

"You're adorable, Emma," the brunette giggled out.

"And you're not getting comfortable, Snugglebug. Get a move on, woman!" reaching out, Emma gave her newly-appointed snugglebug a quick smack to the bottom and watched as she flipped over onto her side. Stretching one arm over her middle, Emma pulled the woman close to her, sliding her across the sheets and laughing at the squeal of surprise that erupted from her throat. "And you said I was adorable."