Thank you for letting me know that people are still reading this. I needed that.

"It's almost bed time, Henry. Say goodnight to your daddy."

"No, don't leave yet, dad." The boy pleaded while pulling at his dad's arm. "Or at least tuck me into bed, please."

"Sure." The blonde said after he got the nod from the brunette. He ruffled his hair and continued. "Now, go get your shower and everything. I will be here waiting for you. Come get me when you are done."

"Got it!" Henry said excitingly. He put down the game controller and ran upstairs.

"Don't run in the house, kid." Emmett reminded and he heard the heavy footsteps became lessen.

When the blonde turned back to the spot behind him, Regina was gone. He wanted to tell her that he was ready to settle down, to be a part of this family. He found Regina in the kitchen, the same spot he found her earlier, putting the leftovers in the container for him.

"You can give me back the container later." Regina said, looking up at him while closing the lid of the container that contained her famous lasagna.

"Thank you." Emmett said, slowly walking to her from the door.

"It's just leftovers, dear."

"For inviting me."

"Like I said before, it is just a casual family dinner." She leaned on the counter behind her to steady herself. Her heart began beating faster when the man walked closer to her.

"Yes, I am aware of that but I also realized something, something important." He invaded her personal space again but this time she was prepared.

"What is it, dear?"

"I realize that I really need to kiss you right now." He said and proceeded to replay the scene that Henry had interrupted.

"Emmett." Regina stopped him from leaning any further forward by pressing her palm on his broad chest but she didn't remove the hands on her hips. "If you kiss me on the lips right now, it will mean that you agree to be exclusive."

Looking into her eyes, he saw hope and a glimmer of their future. A promise of a better future was right in front of him, he just had to kiss it to seal the deal.

Emmett took her chin in his hand and tilted her head up. He playfully kissed her forehead, then her nose. He couldn't stop smiling because the delicious offer was still available to him. He had thought that he had gone too far with Regina that she had given up on him but he now was given a second chance instead. The perfect future in his dream was just inches away.

"May I kiss you on the lips?" Emmett asked Regina tenderly.

"Yes," she said her voice hoarse. Clearing her throat, she whispered, "Yes, you may."

Now, with the permission given to him, he was ready to get his future, but the doorbell stopped him.

They ignored it, hoping the person would just leave them alone but the doorbell didn't stop its annoying noise after a whole two minutes, so Regina stomped to the door to bite the head off of the unfortunate one, who had the bad luck to come across her tonight.

"Stay here." Regina threw the word at Emmett before leaving the room.

He guessed he could wait for a few more minutes because he now knew that his dream could come true. He could have his woman and his son in his arms whenever he wanted.

Seeing his boy again made him believe everything was possible, opening up to the woman he liked didn't always lead to heart broken. Moreover, Regina was different than anyone he knew. She had been patient with him and waited for him this whole time. Also, Regina was Henry's mother. He could see how good she had been taken care of him through tonight's event.

He waited. And waited. Six minutes had passed. Emmett was getting very impatient. He was desperate to tell her his mind, getting the long overdue kiss.

Emmett listened to Regina and a man talking in the foyer. When he got into the foyer, he saw the man brought her hand to his lips and kissed the smooth skin on the back of her hand. The man left with the door closed behind him before Emmett could walk over.

"Who's that?" He knew he had no right to be possessive over her since they were not together yet, but he couldn't stop the tugging at his heart.

He was jealous. Regina didn't quite know why he was since she had already explicitly expressed her feelings, but he was absolutely feeling jealous.

Regina crossed her arms, her lips tugging into a smirk. "Why, you jealous, dear?"

"Yes, I am. Because he got to kiss you."

Her eyes widened in shock to what he had just said. She didn't think he would admit it out loud.

"But it was just a kiss on the hand!"

"So? I am going to give you the answer which means I should be the one who was kissing you."

Now seemed like she finally had gotten what she wanted but she couldn't shake the feeling that it was too good to be true and something wrong was about to happen.

He stepped closer, taking the small woman's face in his hands and softly brought their lips for a passionate kiss.

There was no movement, no attempt to deepen the kiss at first because Regina couldn't believe this was really happening. He was the man that women could only dream of and he chose to be with Regina and Regina alone.

She found her hands beginning to wander on their own accord ad she grabbed his collar while tilting her head a little to deepen their kiss, increasing the intensity to a whole new level. The combined warmth and softness of his lips made her head spin and for what felt like forever, the world around them no longer existed.

"Dad, I am ready!" Henry shouted from upstairs.

"Kid!" Emmett yelled up at the ceiling, clearly frustrated, as it was one time too many that Henry had interrupted them.

They really needed to teach him about timing because he was just starting to enjoy the kiss that Regina returned when Henry interrupted them. He rushed up to his boy's room to tucked him into bed as fast as he could, so he got to continue the breath taking kisses.

Was it a dream? It must have had all been a dream. A wonderful, very realistic dream, she thought, licking her soft lips, she could still feel the sweet taste of Emmett's lips linger there.

Her thoughts were interrupted as a phone beeped. She looked for the source of the sound and found that it was from Emmett's iPhone. She grabbed it and the screen of it showed her the previous unread messages to Emmett.

Emmett smiled and licked his lips when he walked back down the stairs. He was eager to see the brunette again. He could imagine what they could do now since there were no more interruptions. He thought about them kissing, slowly at first, then more hungrily... He thought about her running her hands over his chest... He thought about could them slowly undressing each other... He thought about them running their hands eagerly over each other's bodies.

Pulling the woman into his arms, Emmett said, "Hey, you have the cutest lips there! But they look so lonely. Would they like to meet mine?"

Until now did he noticed that a perfect scowl was etched into her beautiful face.

"What's wrong?" He asked, a little confused at the sudden change of mood.

"What does it mean when you kissed me?"

"That I will only be with you and you only." Emmett said like it was obvious. He pulled her closer and continued, "Regina, I know it's time for me to settle down. You, me and Henry, we can be the perfect family that people envy."

Regina pulled away and yelled at him through clenched teeth.

"You are living with another woman and you told me you are ready to settle down!"

"I AM!" Emmett yelled, then he lowered his voice and whispered loudly, "She lives with me because she had nowhere to stay."

When Regina pulled away, Emmett made sure to hold her at arm's length while he further explained.

"You don't know how hard it is to find a place in this town. I will have her move out first thing in the morning. If she didn't want to leave, I will leave the house myself."

"Ha, but this doesn't look like a roommate to me." Regina doubted and threw his phone at him who caught it nimbly after it hit his chest. Emmett quickly scrolled through his phone and knew what Regina was talking about. Aurora had sent him messages and lots of heart shapes emojis, telling him to come back home and hinting she would definitely want to do more than sleeping with him in bed when he's back.

"Tell me you didn't fuck her." Regina said, fighting back tears.

"She's just convenient."

-SLAP-

"I mean, it doesn't mean anything. It's just sex and it doesn't mean I like her. "

-SLAP-

Regina wrapped her fists into the front of Emmett's shirt. Her hands tightened around his collar, pulling him down till his face was only inches from her own.

Every time Emmett was near her, the space between them felt thick with heat and sparked with passion.

She couldn't figure out why she was feeling what she was feeling, but she was feeling it. She wanted to slap this man right in front of her but she also wanted to kiss him. She wanted to kill him but she also wanted to fuck him.

Emmett quickly cupped her face and closed the gap between them. He kissed her with all the passion he could muster. When she licked his lower lip, he opened his mouth and deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue against hers. He felt her melt into him as his hands moved under her shirt, touching the bare skin. They stayed entwined for some moments before Regina broke the kiss and pushed against his chest.

-SLAP-

"Let go of me", Regina yelled as she tried to pull away but the man wrapped his arms around her tightly to lock her in place. She tried in vain to pull his grip away from his waist because he was too strong for her.

Leaning against him she caught his lips, she started out with gentle kisses before she began to bite and suck at the tender flesh, mixing both delight and pain together for him. After a rough bite that caused his lower lips to bleed, Emmett pulled away unwillingly.

"Fuck!" He gasped, touching the bleeding flesh with fingers from his right hand. "Why can't you just believe me, Regina? I can change."

"How can I believe you?" she spat painfully, as those tears began to fall.

"What do you want me to do? Anything you ask of me I will do because I really can change."

"I don't know!" Regina bowed her head and raked a frustrated hand through her dark hair.

Seeing the brunette in such pain which he caused, Emmett wouldn't dare open his mouth to say anything. Instead he closed his mouth as tightly as he could, lips forming a straight line.

She continued, "Just give me some time to think." as another tear rolled down her cheek. "Leave."

"Okay. I will leave, for now." Emmett continued determinedly when their eyes met. "But I will not go back to her. I don't care if I have to live in my car from now on."

The bed's getting cold and you're not here

The future that we hold is so unclear

Regina just lied in the empty bed, curled up and crying into her pillow. She had thought about him pulled her chin up to look into her eyes, he would see the pink rise on her cheeks, and taste her lips again and again. She had thought about making love with him. She had thought about cuddling with him in bed. She had thought about waking up together.

But now it was impossible. Impossible to feel his hands tracing over the bare skin on her back. To feel their bodies pressed against each other. To listen to his breathing and heartbeat by leaning her head on his bare chest as it had the night before.