A/N: For Cbird28, on the occasion of her birthday - we met through Gilmore Girls, and I got her hooked on Hart of Dixie, but recently, we've been talking a lot about Once Upon A Time, and how Emma & Neal deserved a happy ever after ending, so I decided to write one for them, and for her, and for me too! ;)

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters and quoted/recognisable dialogue from Once Upon A Time belongs to Eddy Kitsis, Adam Horiwitz, and other folks who aren't me.

Finding Home

When Regina began to explain the intricacies of the new curse, Emma felt her head start to swim. She could hardly believe this was happening again, that her life was about to ripped away just when she thought she had found some peace and comfort, some sense of home. Apparently, it was not to be. Her parents and everybody else who had started out in the Enchanted Forest had to go back, but not Henry. He had been born in this world, he had to stay.

"So, he would be here... alone?" Emma asked shakily, not willing to allow it, not after everything else they had all been through.

"No, you will take him, because you're the saviour," Regina explained. "You were created to break the curse, and once again, you can escape it."

Emma insisted that was not what she wanted, that she wanted everyone to be together, but Regina was absolute when she said; "That's not an option. I can't be with him. If I don't pay the price, none of this will work."

A thunder crack proved they were running out of time, the curse was coming, which meant Emma had to go, just as her mother started telling her to. She didn't want to. Looking into the faces of her parents and everyone she had come to love so much, it didn't seem fair.

"But we're a family," she insisted.

"Yes, and we always will be."

"But family can take more than one form," said her father, a hand at her cheek. "Emma, you can get your wish. You can be like everyone else. You can be happy. You have a chance to have a family of your own now, you and Henry and..."

His eyes strayed over her shoulder and Emma turned immediately to look.

"Neal?" she said as she stared into his sad eyes. "Can't you come with us?"

She didn't really know what she was saying, or maybe she did, but in the moment, she couldn't find it in herself care. Whatever kind of relationship they might have had, given time to figure it out, it didn't really matter now. What mattered was Henry and being a family, saving any semblance of that that they could, before it was too late.

"Emma, you know I would love to," Neal told her, "but... is it possible?"

He looked to Regina for the answer to that and Emma did the same. The former Evil Queen looked troubled, but determined as ever.

"It may be possible," she admitted then, looking at Neal. "From what I understand, you weren't in the Enchanted Forest when I cast the first curse..."

He shook his head when he said, "No. I left long before."

Regina smiled, just a little. "Then it's possible, if that's what you want. Is it what you want, Emma?" she asked, gaze shifting back to her.

In her head, Emma heard her father's words echoing.

You can get your wish. You can be like everyone else. You can be happy.

She looked down at Henry, then over her shoulder once more at Neal.

"Yes. It's what I want. For Henry... and for us."

The smile her words put on both Neal and Henry's faces was enough to make Emma glad and very sure of what she was doing, but she wasn't expecting the sparks of excitement and joy in her own heart on realising what this really meant. She could have a life and a family, not with her parents, which would have been her ideal, but at least with Neal and Henry. She loved them both so much, in a way she never thought she could. Though it would be hard to leave Storybrooke and everyone else behind, she knew with her two guys at her side, she could make it. She could find some kind of happy ending, somehow.

It was only a while later, right at the town line, when she realised things were not going to be quite as simple as she thought. With all their goodbyes made and many a tear shed in the process, Emma and Neal sent Henry to get into the car and then faced Regina together, one last time.

"There's something I haven't told you," she admitted, her brow wrinkling as she seemed to struggle to find a way to explain.

"Come on, what is it?" Neal prompted, looking as concerned as Emma herself.

"When the curse washes over us, it will send us all back. Nothing will be left behind, including your memories," Regina explained then. "It's just what the curse does. Storybrooke will no longer exist. It won't ever have existed. These last years will be gone from all of your memories and we'll go back to being just stories again. I know that doesn't sound much like a happy ending, but... I can give you one."

"You can preserve our memories?" Emma asked hopefully, but knew instantly from the look on Regina's face that wasn't possible.

"No, but I can do what I did to everyone else in this town before. I can give you new ones. The difference is yours would be good memories, a happy life for all of you," she said, looking between the couple. "You won't ever have parted. You will have raised Henry together this whole time. You'll have always been together."

Emma didn't know what to say. Looking to Neal, she realised he was equally surprised. It was shocking enough that Regina would grant them such a gift, but it also seemed like a mixed blessing to realise a whole lot of their troubled past would be erased. Neal leaving Emma, her time in prison, it would all be gone. She would have no reason to feel betrayed or hurt by him, she could just love him as she always had before.

"Sounds great," said Neal, clearly realising the same things she was, "but it won't be real."

"Your past won't," Regina admitted, "but your future will. From what I see between you, your love has always been very real, and I know you both love Henry too. Just... be happy, for all our sakes," she urged them, squeezing one hand each of the pair. "Now go. There isn't much time left. The curse will be here any minute."

They had to get into the car then, waving their hands in one last sign of goodbye before they turned away, determined not to look back anymore. It would be too painful, Emma knew, to see her parents, even for Neal to see his father's heartbroken true love.

Looking only forward, Emma started up the yellow bug, feeling stronger for Neal's hand briefly over hers on the gear shift, and then, they were off. When she spared the rear-view mirror one quick glance, it was only to see Henry there in the back-seat. She dare not look too much, knowing as she did the great engulfing fog of the curse was coming, something they must escape.

The car moved over the town line then, and on they went, towards the future, away from Storybrooke, that would wink out of existence any second. As they travelled on, Emma felt something strange come over her, a feeling of peace and calm, the like of which she was sure she had never felt before, though she was unsure why. After all, she had her partner at her side and her son with them too. She had a happy life, albeit it had a rocky start.

This car she drove, she had tried to steal from Neal, who had already stolen it from someone else. They were young and in love, but thieves for a while. Not the most auspicious beginning, but then, they decided to settle down. To cash in some watches Neal had stolen before he met Emma, to build a new life and be happy together.

They were on their way to Tallahassee when she found out she was pregnant and both decided in that moment to go straight and do their best by their child. It had been a good life so far. Not perfect, but good. Emma had a home with these people she loved and who loved her back. There was nothing left to wish for. She had everything she needed.

One Year Later...

It was 8:15 as Emma came into the kitchen, finding Neal by the stove, cracking eggs into a pan and singing along to Lou Reed's 'Charley's Girl' on the radio. His voice wasn't bad but his dance moves were terrible. Still, she had to smile. When they first met, she couldn't ever have imagined them ending up so totally domestic, but it worked. She loved how well it worked.

"Hey," he turned to find her standing there watching him, looking much less self-conscious at being caught out than he would have once upon a time. "You want coffee or orange juice this morning?"

"Right now, neither one," she told him, moving closer, putting her arms around him and kissing his lips.

"Hmm, what was that for?" he asked, hugging her with only one arm, the other outstretched with the spatula still in his hand.

"Nothing, really. Just because," she said, smiling up at him, sure he knew, without her ever actually saying it, that she loved him as much now as she ever did, maybe even more so.

Though she had intended to move out of his arms as quickly as she had gone into them, Neal urged Emma to stay close when she tried to get away, dumping the spatula and turning up the radio. There was a spark in his eyes and a smirk on his lips that made her wonder, and then, she realised what song had come on and she smiled all the wider herself.

As Neal softly serenaded her with 'Only You' and they swayed together on the kitchen tile, Emma let her head rest on his shoulder and her eyes close a while. This life they had, it was nothing like she ever could have imagined in the beginning, but she had absolutely no regrets. Giving up petty crime to live a good life together and raise their son, it had been the right thing, and Tallahassee had been good to them, for a while.

In the end, it had just gotten too full of college kids, and Emma and Neal had both gotten those same itchy feet, as they had so many times before. They wanted to be somewhere else, somewhere different, somewhere with a little adventure. New York had been Henry's idea, and though they did value his opinion, of course, he was only fourteen. As parents, they had to look into the options, all of the variables. In the end, the kid had proven to be right. New York was a great option for them, so here they were, and happier than they had ever been. No, Emma had absolutely no regrets. She believed Neal felt the same, until she heard him whispering something other than song lyrics in her ear.

"Why did we never get married, Emma?"

She pulled back, sure she looked as shocked as she felt to hear the question.

"I'm serious," said Neal in earnest. "Why didn't we? Why don't we? I mean, we talked about it before, said we would when the time was right. Can you think of a better time than this?"

Emma found herself shaking her head. She really couldn't think of a better time, a more perfect moment in their life to show the world they wanted to be together forever. Not that she expected anyone else to care all that much, but it might be nice, just for the two of them, even more so perhaps for Henry.

"Hey," the boy himself said as he appeared in the kitchen then. "Sorry, am I interrupting something?" he asked, expression caught between awkward and amused.

"Nothing we can't pick up later, kid," Emma assured him with a smile, ruffling his hair as he sat down at the kitchen counter. "Eggs?"

"Please. Is there cocoa?"

"Coming right up," Neal assured him, turning to grab their son a hot drink.

Five minutes later and they were all sat down together with their breakfast. Bacon and eggs, toast and orange juice, and cocoa with cinnamon sprinkles for all. The talk between them was of the day ahead, Henry's latest project for school, the latest case Emma was working on, the job Neal hoped to finish today, preferably without having to stay late. Then it was time to go. Henry went to grab his backpack and Emma moved in closer to Neal, planting a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Let's not worry about the future, or make any big decisions today, huh?" she suggested. "I kind of like how things are going for us right now. Let's just enjoy what we have while we have it, okay?"

She worried for a moment that she had hurt him and that he wouldn't understand. Of course, she should have known better. Neal always understood.

"Sure, works for me," he promised her, stealing one more kiss from her lips before she slipped away. "Emma?" he called her back before she quite made it out of the room.

"Yeah?"

"The best day of my life will always be the one when you tried to steal my stolen car," he told her, smiling widely.

She grinned back at him, unable to help it. "Mine too," she promised him faithfully, just as Henry appeared form his room, ready to head out to school.

"Everything okay?" he asked her.

"Everything is just about perfect, kid," she told him honestly.

After all, what else could she possibly want more than her true love and her son and they wonderful life they shared together? She had found home, at last, and she needed nothing else.

The End