There were so many reasons Regina loved Emma. It was astounding to her that, no matter how many years passed, she could still find reasons to fall a little more in love with the Savior. Glancing over her shoulder, she watched Emma and Henry leaning against the island in the kitchen debating the outcome of a movie they had just watched. Regina giggled and shook her head as she observed what seemed to be two children bickering over imaginary circumstances.

"Henry, if they could have used magic to fix that, they could have prevented everything else that happened too."

"Maybe there was a reason. Maybe the way their magic works is that they can only have one power, or it´s super restricted."

"Don´t you think they would have explained that?"

"Since when do you ever get explicit rules like that in things like this? It´s a movie, Mom."

Emma look slightly offended. "I know it´s a movie!"

Regina chuckled to herself. "All right, Henry, go brush your teeth and get ready for bed."

"I don´t have school tomorrow. Can I stay up down here for a while?"

Regina considered it for a moment and nodded. "That´s fine. Just don´t fill up on junk food and stay up until 4 a.m."

"Don´t worry, Mom. I´ll be in bed by 3," he said with a cheeky grin.

Regina swatted his behind. Pulling him close to her, she yawned and pressed a kiss to the top of her son´s head.

"Goodnight, Henry. I love you."

"I love you too, Mom," he said as he smiled at her.

Emma smiled at Regina as she left the kitchen and tousled Henry´s hair before pulling him in for a hug. "Love you, kid."

"Love you, Mom."

Once upstairs, Emma closed the bedroom door behind her as she glanced at Regina at the dressing table. Regina looked at her in the mirror as she brushed her hair.

"Enjoy the movie, dear?"

Emma scowled at the smirk on Regina´s face before she relinquished a smile and kissed her cheek in passing. "You know our kid and stories."

"Indeed, I do."

Regina stretched and released an audible yawn as she moved to the bed. "I am so tired."

Emma finished brushing her teeth and slipped out of her sweat pants before jumping into bed. She propped her head up on her elbow as she watched Regina finish rubbing lotion into her arms and hands.

"Want me to give you a back massage, babe?"

Regina cupped Emma´s chin as she smiled at her and graced her with a loving kiss. "Thank you, Emma, but I think I just need sleep tonight. Though, I appreciate the offer, dear."

Emma smiled and kissed her cheek. "Well just so you know, you can have that massage any time you´d like to cash in, ok?"

Regina let out a tired giggle and smiled as she turned to her side and snuggle into her pillow. "Thank you, dear. I´ll remember that."

Emma smiled and laid on her back with her hands above her head. As she stared at the ceiling, a thousand thoughts raced through her mind. It wasn´t uncommon for her find trouble quieting her mind for bed. It was precisely why she´d always been so used to sleeping with the television on. Once she´d moved in with Regina, however, that was one of the first habits to go. Regina would put Emma to sleep in the guest room long before she´d condone having a television in her bedroom. To be able to sleep with Regina every night, Emma was more than happy to make the sacrifice. She had, however, managed to help Henry get away with having one in his room. They had reasoned that he was a responsible enough teenager and they had to have some place to put Emma´s extra television. Regina had been reluctant to agree, but she was powerless to resist two generations of the same puppy dog eyes.

Emma found that one of the things that made her happiest about being with Regina was the new sense of family they had with Henry. She loved seeing Regina in "mom mode" and loved hearing stories of his childhood. Emma would have given anything to go back in time and share that with her. Once, Emma had agreed to look after Neal for a weekend and nearly panicked. She was great with kids, but she has grossly underestimated her own stamina with a baby. Emma had always been a woman who valued her sleep. When Regina received a call at midnight that Saturday, there was no way she could deny the desperate plea for help from the Savior herself.

Regina had looked at Emma with a mixture of pity and humor when she´d opened the door completely disheveled.

"Oh, Emma…"

"I´m so tired," Emma whined as Regina walked through the door.

The two women had been getting closer at that point and discussed the fact that they each felt a connection beyond friendship with the other. They had not yet been on a date, however. Regina immediately reached for Neal and began to soothe him.

"It´s ok. I´m here," she said, though not sure whether she was directing her comment more toward the baby or Emma.

"Go lay down, Emma. I´ve got him."

"But, Regina, it´s late. You have to be tired too. I shouldn´t have called you, but I didn´t know what to do. I couldn´t mess up my parents´ weekend."

"Emma, it´s all right. I´d been asleep for a bit before you called and I don´t go in to the office tomorrow. I´ve done this before, remember?"

Emma smiled realizing she was staring at the woman who had been the mother to her son his entire life. Suddenly, she broke down into tears as she imagined Regina holding Henry in just this way.

Regina panicked and ran over to her, caressing her arm. "Emma! What is it? What´s wrong?"

"You…you were Henry´s mom," she said as she sobbed.

Regina smiled softly and rubbed her back. "Yes, I was. And it was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. I have you to thank for that."

"I´m so glad he had you, Regina. I´m so happy it was you. I can´t even take care of Neal for a weekend. I would have been a horrible mother," she cried as she sank down onto the steps.

Regina sighed and sat next to her, putting her arm around her. "Emma," she spoke softly, "You are a wonderful mother to Henry. You made one of the hardest decisions you could make for him. It wasn´t always easy for me either. When I first adopted Henry, I could never get him to stop crying. I was exhausted all the time. I think I cried as much as Henry did those first few months. I didn´t think I could ever do it. But then, one day, I suppose Henry realized how much I loved him and how desperately I wanted to be a good mother to him. We began to grow together. When he got older, we began to grow apart again. He found you, and I lost him for a while. But now…now we´ve grown together again, stronger than ever. All of this is thanks to you, Emma. You were the mother to him I couldn´t be for a while. I might not have ever been able to manage these teenage years without you."

Emma smiled at her, her eyes still glistening with tears. Without a second thought, Emma placed her hand on Regina´s cheek and pressed a soft, loving kiss to her lips. Regina gasped in surprise, but tentatively kissed her back. Each woman held their breath as they pulled away to look at each other. Regina sighed as she gazed into Emma´s eyes. Her heart raced. She was terrified and thrilled all at once. Emma took a deep breath to calm her thundering heart and looked down.

"I guess I should go to bed…"

Regina blinked and nodded. Disappointed creeped into her heart as she was sure the Sheriff was second guessing her actions. It wasn´t until Emma placed her hand over hers that her heart began to beat again.

"Thank you for coming over to help me. The guest room is set up if you want to sleep in there…or um…if you want to take shifts, my bed is kinda big…"

Regina smiled and blushed at the flustered look on Emma´s face and shook her head. "I´ll make myself at home, Miss Swan."

Emma smiled and shivered a little as she started to walk up the stairs. Once she turned on the landing she looked back at the woman behind her. "Regina?"

"Yes?"

"Will you have dinner with me tomorrow night after my parents pick up Neal?"

Regina smiled and bit her lower lip to contain the childish excitement she felt. "I´d love to."

Emma beamed at her. "Great. It´s a date then."

Regina smiled and nodded as Emma skipped up the steps to her bedroom.

Memories of their first kiss and their first date flooded Emma´s mind, prompting her to speak just as Regina was about to fall asleep.

"Have you ever thought about having another kid?"

Regina´s eyes popped open as she turned her head to look back at her. "What!?"

Emma smiled. "Do you think you would ever want another kid?"

Regina furrowed her brow and sighed. "I don´t know, Emma. I guess I did for a while with Roland around. I realized I liked being able to relive a little of the childhood portion of things that Henry has grown out of," she said as she rolled back over.

Just as Regina was relaxed back into her pillow, Emma asked, "What about another baby?"

Regina sighed, "Where is all this coming from?"

"I was just thinking about our first kiss."

"Oh…" Regina replied with a sleepy smile and sighed. "I suppose I haven´t giving it much thought. Though, I suppose I would."

Emma excitedly turned towards Regina, staring at her back. "Yeah? You really think you would want another baby?"

"Emma, I don´t know right now. I´m exhausted. Can´t we talk about this some other time?"

"Oh! I´m sorry. Of course we can, baby." Emma kissed Regina´s shoulder and settled back into her pillow smiling like a fool at the back of her head.

After a few moments of silence, Emma asked, "What would you have named Henry if he had been a girl?"

Regina nearly whined as she sighed. "I don´t know, Emma."

"You only looked for boys?"

Groaning and frustrated, Regina responded. "No."

"But you would have had to think about a girl name if you didn´t know what you were getting. Or did you just decide when you actually met Henry?"

Regina turned over letting out a frustrated growl and pinned Emma back on her back kissing her with passion and fury. Emma squealed in surprise and quickly moaned into her kiss. Every part of Emma felt on fire and her mind went blank. Regina kissed her thoroughly as she moved her whole body against Emma´s, nearly grinding into her. By the time the kiss was broken, Emma could hardly breathe.

Regina met her eyes with a piercing gaze, her voice low and threatening as she addressed her. "I promise you that we will have this discussion at a more appropriate time. Right no I am exhausted and all I want to do is sleep. So help me, Emma Swan, if you do not shut the hell up and let me sleep, I will send you to the guest room."

Emma´s face was a mixture of shock, amusement, embarrassment, and arousal. She kissed Regina quickly and sweetly before smiling apologetically. "Ok. I´m sorry, babe. I´ll be quiet. You get some sleep."

Regina raised her brow and then nodded once she was sure Emma would obey her. "All right. Goodnight, Emma."

"Goodnight."

"I love you," Regina said as she settled back into her sleeping position.

"I love you too, Regina," Emma said as she smiled and bit back a giggle. Snuggling up with her arm around the Queen, Emma sighed happily and let her mind wander as she drifted off to dreams of a family of four.