Emma pov
I continue exploring her skin without getting too close to any part of her that could cause a flashback for her. Shes so soft and warm. Her beautiful tan skin is a bit intoxicating. I feel like i could get lost in it. She seems to love anytime that my fingers touch her skin. I know shed say something if anything bothered her. "You are so beautiful Regina." I whisper so as not to destroy the comfortable silence filled only with our light breathing. After a couple minutes i feel wet droplets hit the skin where Reginas face is resting. My hand stops moving on her as i pull back slightly to look at her. Shes asleep. She must be having a nightmare or a bad dream. I wake her gently. "Baby, wake up honey. You are safe. You are ok. Im here." She has tears streaming down her cheeks when she sits up. "Hey, whats wrong beautiful?" She looks at me so saddened that it almost brings me to tears myself. "Nothing. Nothing was wrong. It wasnt a bad dream really. Just a dream i know will never come true. The thought of not getting to live that dream with you breaks my heart. Its something i want so badly. And its my own fault ill never get it." I wipe away her tears as even more fall from her eyes. "What was the dream about love?" She looks down and i see her shoulders shake with a sob. "It was… you and me in the future. Henry was there and we were taking family photos. But it wasnt just the three of us. It was us and 2 beautiful babies. One was a toddler and the other a newborn. One had your hair and my eyes. And the other had my hair and your eyes. They were perfect. Our family felt whole. And somehow i knew that i was the one who carried them. We looked so happy Emma. Im just so sad that it will never happen." I look at her confused. I know magic can let us have our own children. Part of me and part of her. Im just confused as to why we cant do that if we want. "Why couldnt that happen if its what we want? Magic can do that. We could make that happen." Regina sniffles. "No it cant Emma. My mother tried to force me to get pregnant back in the enchanted forest. I couldnt even take care of myself back then. And i refused to bring a child into that hell of a life. So i mixed a potion that would make me barren. I cant have children. Not even by magic. I couldnt get you pregnant either. And ill never be able to have that life. Ive always wanted more children. Being a mother has been the best 16 years of my life. But Henry is almost grown now and he will be going off to college or to his own life soon. Im not ready. I want more for us, Em." I sigh and sit up next to her with my legs crossed. I take her hand in both of mine. "If you want more children in the future, if we truly cant have our own, we can always adopt. You have proven with Henry, that a child doesnt need to be blood in order for you to love them fiercely. We can have a big family if you want. I just want to make sure you are happy first. That we have worked past some of your memories and you aren't plagued by nightmares most nights. We will get there baby.
6 months later
Regina POV
I cant believe how much my life has changed in so little time. Emma and i have been together for 6 months. Her parents were over the moon when we told them. They had been "shipping" us for a long time according to them. Henry is doing amazing in his senior year. Hes graduating in a few weeks. Hard to believe he turned 17 last month. Hes such a smart kid. Im so proud of him. Ive been clean from all forms of self harm for 4 months. I slipped up 2 months into our relationship and cut so deep i nearly died. If Emma hadnt have found me and healed me i would have. It scared me into taking recovery a lot more serious. I started sessions with Dr. Hopper after that. He diagnosed me with bipolar depression and put me on some meds to help balance my mood. He also gave me some anti anxiety meds for when i need them. Emma and i have finally gotten to a place where i can be somewhat intimate with her and not have constant flash backs. We still haven't gotten to the point where i can let her inside me, but im content with other things for now. At least we can both pleasure each other, even if its not fully sex. Im so happy right now. My heart is almost full. Out of my own morbid curiosity last week, i ripped my heart out just to see if it was still shriveled and black. To my surprise it wasnt. There was a small amount of black but the rest of it was glowing red and bright. Emma truly is my savior.
Emma called me at work earlier and informed me that shes taking me out to dinner and to wear something fancy. Since there is only one fancy restaurant in town i know we are going to Tonys Italian Restaurant. As soon as i got home i showered and now im making myself presentable. Im wearing a knee length, sleeveless, red silk dress with flesh toned pantyhose and my favorite black stilettos. I curl my slightly longer hair and let it fall loosely down past my shoulders. I regret cutting it so short. I choose a dark red lipstick and line my eyes in black winged eyeliner. I do a soft smokey bedroom eye and pick out some beautiful gold dangle earrings that Emma got me for our 3 month anniversary. I have the gold necklace my father gave me and the bracelet that matches. Once im satisfied with how i look, i grab my phone and my clutch and walk down the stairs. Just as i hit the top step, the front door opens. Emma walks in looking incredibly sexy in a pair of black dress slacks and royal blue silk top. She watches me with seductive eyes as I slowly walk down the steps. "Are you ready my beautiful Queen?" Emma asks with her arm extended for me to take. "Yes i am, my Charming Princess." We both laugh at my use of the nickname for her father. I take her arm and we both walk out the door. She holds my door open for me and helps me into the car before she closes my door and walks to the drivers side. "I hated that we both had to work on our anniversary. So i wanted to take you some place fancy to celebrate." I smile and look at her. "You are too thoughtful dear. I wasn't expecting anything extraordinary or extravagant. I would have been happy with pizza and board games. But i love that you went out of your way to plan something for us. I suppose we do deserve to celebrate any and all events in our life together. After all, we have both been alone all of our lives. That is, until we found each other. I do have an anniversary gift for you. I just want to give it to you when its just us." Emma looks at me excited. "That's mysterious. I assume im going to enjoy it." I smirk. "I wouldnt assume anything my dear. You never know, maybe its something entirely innocent." Emma slows to a stop as we park in front of Tonys. She turns to look me in the eye. "I love you Regina. No matter what." For some reason her words make me a bit anxious, but i push it down. Emma opens my door for me and pulls me out of the car and into her arms. She presses her lips against mine in a slow romantic kiss. "I love you too Emma. So much." She smiles and guides me into the restaurant. I pay no attention to our surroundings as im just looking at the love of my life. She lets go of my hand to pull out my chair for me. "So chivalrous. You would have made the perfect Knight back in the Enchanted Forest." Emma chuckled. "I dont know. Perhaps a handmaiden. Im not so good with the sword yet. Dad is still training me." I cover my face to hide the blush. "You ok Regina?" I look at her from between my fingers. "Yes im fine. Just thought about if you had been my handmaiden back then. If we had known each other. You are, and always have been, my type. I would have picked you from 1000 women." Just as Emma was about to respond in what im sure was a sarcastic but extremely inappropriate comment, the waiter showed up. "Do we know what we are wanting today ladies?" The young man asked. "I know what i want to eat and drink. Ill take the Bella Notte pasta bowl with an iced tea. And i pre-ordered dessert to be brought out after the meal is finished." The waiter makes note of Emmas order and then looks at me. "Ill have the same thing actually. That sounds wonderful. Thank you." He writes down my order too. "Alright ladies. I will be back with your drinks in just a moment. Your food will be out soon."
When the meal arrives we both begin eating. Between bites we have pleasant conversation. "So, what dessert did you pre-order?" I ask Emma. She smiles as she replies. "There is this recipe i found in one of your cook books that seemed perfect. So I brought it here for the staff to make it special. Its a cinnamon apple cake with fresh handmade cream cheese icing. It looked amazing in the book. And i know how you are about apples. Also some vanilla ice cream on the side with a special design on the plate that you will have to wait to see." She knows my tastes. Thats for certain. "Thats also when your cider will be served. Since we are nearly done we should call the waiter over to bring out the dessert. Give me a moment and ill be right back my love." I smile. My love for Emma grows every day. Its so strange to me. The only person ive ever loved that much was Henry. Emma comes back with a nervous smile. "Is everything alright Emma?" I ask as I finish my last bite of pasta. Her leg is bouncing under the table quite a bit. I scoot my seat a little closer to her so i can put my hand on her leg. She finally responds. "Everything is ok. Im just nervous about the dessert. I hope you like it. Its been the big part of tonight for weeks. I made sure they got the best ingredients and everything. It needs to be perfect." She lets out a deep breathe. I take her hand in mine. "You planned it. I will love it no matter how it is because you put in so much effort. It will be perfect." As i finish speaking i see the cake being brought out. it's beautiful. The waiter sets Emmas plate first. Then mine. And when i see the design Emma was talking about my heart starts racing. I panic a little. Is a beautiful swan with a crown above its head. But around the swans neck is a beautiful diamond ring. I turn to look at Emma but shes no longer in her seat. She's kneeling on one knee in front of my chair. She takes the ring from the swans neck and hold my hand. "Regina Mills, all my life i searched for home, for a family. I never dreamed that what i was searching for wasnt a place or a group of people. It was one person. You. When you said yes to dating me, I realized noone else would ever make me as happy as you do. And i want to spend the rest of my life showing you every day how much you mean to me. Would you do me the incredible honor of becoming my wife? Will you Marry me, Regina?" She's looking up at me with those bright green, joyful tear filled eyes and i cant seem to breathe. Realizing that its been a few minutes and shes still waiting for an answer. I pull her up off the floor and into a deep kiss. "Yes. Of course i will marry you Emma. Nothing in this world would make me happier than to be with you for the rest of my days." Emma smiles and places the ring on my finger and suddenly an eruption of applause surrounds us. I look around and it seems everyone we know is here. Emmas parents and Neal are in one corner. Our best friends Ruby and Belle are in another corner holding hands as they watch us. Dr. Hopper is sitting with a few of the dwarves. And Tink is with a group of the other fairies.
Henry walks up to us with a proud smile on his face and Violet holding his arm. "Moms im so happy for you. We both are. I hope the wedding is soon because you have both waited so long for this. Its time for you to get your happy beginning." He says as he hugs each of us. When he hugs me he whispers "Now you can be free mom. You can have all the things you wanted and you dont have to hurt anymore. You just have to let yourself. I love you mom." I tear up as i give him a watery smile. "Thank you Henry. I love you too. This is because of you, you know. You brought her here. You gave me my happiness." Henry just nods and smiles. He walks back to his table with his girlfriend in tow. Emma takes my hand again as we sit. Shes pulled our chairs as close together as she can and we sit. "Thank you for saying yes. I was so afraid you would say no and everyone would see it. I wanted you to feel surrounded by love and support. To show you the system of people around you. Everyone here loves you Regina. Me the most. I love you so much it physically hurts to be away from you for too long." I lean over and kiss her. "I feel the very same way. I love you with every inch of my soul. You are my forever. I would marry you tomorrow. But we both deserve to have a wedding that represents our love and honors those who love us. I just wish daddy could be here for this. He would have been so happy to see me finally getting to be happy." Emma smiles a sad sort of smile. "He knows Regina. Im sure he can see just how loved you are and he knows that you chose to be good." We both turn to our cake which was absolutely delicious.
A/N- Thank you all for the reads and those who followed and favorited i truly appreciate it. Could you let me know some things you want to see in the story? Or any issues you see. I am working on finishing up chapter 10 now. Im trying to stay ahead by at least 3 chapters. I know where i want this story to go but you could have some input too if you leave me a review. Thank you all.