Chapter sixty five

-The next day-

Henry looked around the diner and smiled at the poster with two Avengers holding a sign that read 'happy birthday, Henry.'

After they had left the clearing, he had run to hug his grandparents and his blonde mother and then asked whether he could just go home. They had decided to just have a family movie night rather than do the party on his actual birthday and Henry had agreed to wait until the next day since he wasn't really in the mood for a crowd after everything he had gone through.

Now, however, he was surrounded by his school mates enjoying the superhero themed party that he had asked for and he kept allowing his eyes to go over to the present table. Regina had been rather shocked when he had agreed to wait for his presents, but all he wanted the day before was to spend time with his family.

A hand was placed on his shoulder and he looked up at his brunette mother with a grin on his face, "Emma will be here sweetheart, you know she could have missed physio-therapy this once."

Henry shook his head adamantly and said, "she told me that Whale was going to assess her progress today, I knew she was nervous, it would have been cruel to ask her to wait."

The taller brunette smiled contently and ran a hand through his hair, "when did you get so mature?"

"I am twelve now," he said rather proudly, sitting up slightly on the stool.

Regina smirked and brought him into a one armed hug, "don't remind me…"

"Is Cora picking Emma up?" he asked with a furrowed brow.

"Yes, why do you ask?" Regina laughed as she finally released him from the hug.

"I thought she was terrified of driving, are you sure that you really going to let her test that on your girlfriend?"

"She assured me that she could handle it…" the brunette chuckled, "besides, Mr Gold can take the wheel if necessary."

Henry seemed to relax marginally at the reassurance and a moment later, his mother's safety was confirmed as the bell rang out to announce the arrival of the final party guests: Emma, Gold and Cora.

Cora offered her daughter and grandson a quick wave and then pushed Gold over to a free booth so that the blonde could go offer and tell them the good news.

"Hey," Emma smiled and Henry quickly jumped off the stool and hugged her. The sheriff laughed and hugged him back, "how long are you going to do this for?"

"You got Felix to tell you the truth, you saved my life," he said against her shoulder.

The saviour looked up at Regina and smiled broadly at her girlfriend, who eventually put her hands on their son's shoulders and lightly pulled him back. As soon as she did so, he leaned into the other woman who had saved his life and then looked at his blonde mother, "so how did it go?"

Emma bit her lip and said, "okay this is going to sound really stupid…."

Regina raised her eyebrow and said, "if Whale said it, then that is a possibility,"

The blonde laughed lightly and said, "he did some tests and…I moved my toe…I know that's it not a big deal…"

"That's awesome!" Henry nearly shouted, which caused everyone attending his party to look over at him, he quickly bit his lip and ducked his head. Eventually, everyone went back to their conversation and Henry whispered unnecessarily, "that's awesome."

Emma laughed at him and said, "I guess it is, he said that it proves that my nerves are regenerating and eventually magic might be able to heal the injury."

Regina smiled at her girlfriend and said, "that's amazing news," unhitching herself from Henry's side, she leaned down and connected their lips.

"Can my birthday present be that you stop doing that?" Henry asked.

Regina looked over her shoulder to see that the brunette was trying to cover the image with his hand, though he had a small grin playing across his lips.

"I'm afraid that's not something I would be willing to give you, kid," Emma replied and then as if to prove her point, she pulled the brunette in for a kiss that was definitely more than a peck.

"You two are disgusting, I'm going to talk to someone else."

Emma smirked against her girlfriend's lips and then finally allowed her to stand up.

Regina quickly wiped some smudged lipstick off the side of her mouth and then just shook her head, "you are such a child, Swan."

"And yet you love me enough to let me move in."

Regina sighed as her girlfriend reminded her of something they had yet to do, "speaking of which…"

The blonde looked over shoulder and saw her parents talking to each other in a booth and said, "now?"

"There's no time like the present," Regina chuckled and then began walking over to Snow White and Prince Charming.

"We are not naming our child Leopold," Charming laughed.

"Why, it was my father's name?"

"People will make fun of him," the blond pointed out.

"My father was a king!"

"Which is exactly why nobody made fun of him."

Snow rolled her eyes, until she noticed the approaching pair.

They were met with a smile when she fell into the seat next to her former step-daughter and a second later, Emma wheeled over to the end of the table.

Snow didn't seem to notice the how nervous her daughter was and said, "how did the assessment go?"

"Whale said that my nerves are regenerating," Emma replied, instantly relaxing at her own words, she could honestly keep repeating them at this point.

Both of her parents smiled broadly at the thought and Snow said, "that's great sweetheart!"

"So how long do you expect to let the Lost Boys camp at Town Hall?" Charming asked casually once his smile at the news had finally began to fade.

"We honestly need to figure out how we treat them, I'm sure that some of them are older than Gold, but they're still very much teenagers," Regina sighed, "I've had a few offers of people willing to foster them, we'll need to make sure that they all get a home in Storybrooke."

"Is there enough room?" Snow asked with a furrowed brow, clearly she was going through the layout of Storybrooke in her mind.

"There was quite a lot of empty real estates written into the curse, it's a case of whether any of them are old enough to live alone…"

Each of them nodded their understanding and a comfortable silence fell over them, until Regina finally overtly elbowed her girlfriend.

"Why do I have to do it?" she asked indignantly.

"Because they're your parents," Regina replied instantly.

Emma rolled her eyes and was about to make a retort until her father said, "do what?"

The blonde took a deep breath and decided that this should be a 'ripping off the band aid' moment, "me and Regina decided something that you guys should really know…"

"Okay…" Snow said cautiously, her eyes flitting between the pair to see if she could pick up on what it could possibly be.

Emma bit her lip and said, "we're moving in together…permanently."

Snow blinked a few times, she had been under the impression that her daughter would come back to the loft eventually, but now that she thought about it, that would be a rather pointless thing to do only for her to move back in with her girlfriend later. She still couldn't help the urge to try and protect her little girl from rushing things, however.

"It's a little soon wouldn't you agree?" she asked, shuffling away from Regina in case she got some kind of smack for her words. To her surprise though, the brunette just smirked at her words, and she wondered if it was because her reaction was nowhere near what happened when she discovered how the curse had been broken.

"I know it's kind of early, but we have a son together and we love each other, if we wait it would just be because convention says we have to," Emma explained, "plus by the time I'm able to walk again, you'll need the space for someone else."

Snow's hand fell to her stomach and a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, "I guess you're right, it's not like we'll never see you again."

"You could name him 'Leo' you know?" Emma pointed out.

The brunette blinked a few times and then a smile spread across her face, "you heard us?"

"Well he did insult your father, it was difficult not to notice," Regina chuckled.

Charming crossed his arms and sunk in his seat and mumbled something about protecting his children.

"Time for presents," Ruby announced over the rabble of the diner and the four sat at the Charming's booth looked over to see Henry practically vibrating with excitement next to the table of presents.

Half an hour later, the brunette was surrounded by a pile of gifts, each of which he was very grateful for and he finally got to the biggest on the table.

Reading the tag, he read 'happy birthday Henry, love from mom and Emma', he smiled over at them and in that moment considered that he should ask Emma about calling her 'ma' later. Shaking his head, he ripped the paper away and his mouth instantly fell open.

Running his hand over the green box, he re-read the words 'Xbox One' three times before he ran over and hugged each of his mothers at the same time.

"You guys are awesome!"

"You have one more gift," someone called from behind the familial embrace.

Henry turned and furrowed his brow at the man that he was sure hadn't been there before, holding what appeared to be his storybook.

Regina instantly stood and motioned for Henry to go behind her, and Emma pushed her chair forward to be in front of him as well.

"Who are you?" she asked with narrowed.

The man smiled good-naturedly at Regina and said, "I'm so glad you found your happy ending, my predecessor was very against you getting redemption."

"What the hell are you talking about?" she tried again, though this time she moved her hand so it would be one second away from igniting a fireball.

The man held up his free hand in surrender and said, "perhaps I should have explained myself better, I am Isaac, the Author."

Henry's eyebrows went up and he felt an unexplainable rush of excitement in his gut, managing to step in front of his parents, he said, "of what?"

"Of everything, every realm, every timeline…"

Regina and Emma exchanged a look and the blonde said, "timeline?"

"Everything here should never have existed according to the original plan for the universe, the original timeline exists parallel to this one, though things take quite the different course. I don't want to give away too many details, but I will just say that the Evil Queen and the saviour was not a planned pairing…though it would seem that the universe has conspired to allow at least one version of you to get the happy ending that you truly deserve."

A silence fell over the diner, though only a small number of the patrons truly knew what the strange man was talking about.

Finally, Regina's brain cleared slightly and she said, "is there a point to this?"

Isaac smiled at the woman and then opened the book he was holding, revealing the blank pages, "this is one of the only realms to not have a written story, since it shouldn't have existed in the first place."

Emma's eyes widened and she shook her head, "you're saying…"

Isaac held up his hand again and shook his head, "there is no reason why it can't continue existing, I'm simply here because someone needs to record events of this realm."

With his rather vague explanation, he walked over to Henry and handed him the book.

Henry looked at the cover for a moment and then looked up at Isaac, "what exactly do you want me to do."

"Just write things exactly as they happened," he smiled and handed him the quill from his pocket, "for now you will not be able to change events, as mature as you have become, it is still far too soon for that. But this is still a great responsibility Henry, my gift to you is asking you to be the Author of this new timeli-

"Will you stop writing, kid?"Emma sighed as she wheeled her way into the living room to find Henry hunched over his book as usual.

"I only got to my birthday," he sighed and shook his hand from the intense cramp.

"That was a week ago, surely you don't need to write about your week of writing," Emma chuckled, taking the book out of his hands, "you haven't even taken your Xbox out of its packaging."

Henry looked longingly over at the TV where he should have already set up his new console and decided that his blonde mother had a very good point.

Snapping the book shut, he jumped off the couch and ran off to his room to get his untouched birthday present.

The blonde smiled at his disappearing back and picked up the book, Henry had explained the images appeared once he had finished writing certain passages and she was rather curious what was important enough to be captured in image.

Opening to a random page, she saw a picture of her and Regina sitting on a picnic blanket locking lips and she sighed contently when she realised that it was their first date.

"Trip down memory lane?" Regina asked from her position leaning against the door frame.

Emma smiled up at her girlfriend and motioned for her to come and sit on the couch, "how did he know at the stuff he wasn't there for?"

"Gold gave him a dream catcher and some dust so that he could see anything that he needed to know," Regina sighed as she fell onto the couch and brought her fingers to intertwine with those of her live-in girlfriend.

"Are you worried that he may see something he doesn't want to?"

Regina shrugged and said, "I was, but he's a clever boy, I think he would know when he shouldn't see something. Besides, as the Author he should have the right to know what story he is writing."

The saviour smiled and leaned forward to capture the other woman's lips in her own before she leaned back and said, "we're going to be late."

Regina sighed and said, "is dinner with your parents really necessary?"

"Look on the bright side, if something happens, it will give Henry something else to write about."

A/N Hope you guys enjoyed the last chapter, please let me know if the ending is confusing, for anyone who needs explanation, the whole fic (up until the bold) was written by Henry for the new storybook.

For all of the people who asked for a fluffy ending, I just wanted to let you know that this isn't actually the end.

For now the sequel doesn't have a definite date, but I started a series of one-shots called 'Back to the Start One-Shots' for anyone who wants to read more from this universe in the meantime. (These won't be written by Henry).

Instead of a competition, I'm just going to ask you guys to send me any prompts for the one-shot series. It can be anything you want for this universe, but in particular, I would appreciate anything that you guys think I should have included or something you wanted more of. I'll try and fill every prompt that is sent :)

Thanks to everyone who stuck with this until the end XD

I also need to thank my beta QueenApples for being awesome and Quindecim and PerditusFic for helping out XD