Six weeks had passed since the death of Killian Jones, the defeat of the Dark One's Legacy, and since Emma Swan had fully embraced her place as the Dark One.
Surprisingly, even with the knowledge that their Savior was also the Dark One, very little changed in how people treat Emma, as Emma herself had seemingly barely changed.
During her original time as the Dark One after their return from Camelot, Emma had put on a more cold and emotionless air than she normally behaved. Now as the Dark Swan, she was much the same as her pre-Dark One self except she was more… mischievous for the lack of a better word.
Her relationship with her parents had suffered slightly, as she now knew what she'd been missing for so long because of their actions. While she was angry, it wasn't the erratic, directionless rage she'd felt upon originally hearing of their actions towards Maleficent and Lily. The fact that she had her own home, made it easier to come to terms with it.
The relationship she had with Regina and their son, Henry was stronger than ever as she no longer felt afraid to love them, she no longer feared that they'd abandon her like so many others had. They regularly met for dinners at the Mills Mansion. Regina cooked of course, as Emma couldn't cook for shit. It had been widely accepted that she had inherited her mother, Snow White's inability to cook anything more than a piece of toast.
She and Regina had also grown much closer than before as well, the underlying hint of sexual tension between the Savior and the Former Evil Queen seemed stronger than before, especially after Regina had broken up with Robin Hood.
The two hadn't quite spoken about getting back together after the revelation of Zelena's pregnancy with Robin's child. Emma becoming the Dark One and all the drama surrounding it, had put their talk on the back burner until the crisis was dealt with. Robin had tried to provide comfort to Regina, who was more focused on saving her friend.
But following the crisis, and the defeat of the Dark Ones, the two agreed to a friendly split, with Robin acknowledging that Regina's heart belonged with another.
Zelena's return from Oz, following Regina banishing her there, had added a new bit of tension as she demanded her daughter. Regina had gotten between her sister and her now ex, who held his daughter.
They were at Granny's, where Robin was about to reveal the name he'd decided for his daughter when the Wicked Witch walked in to the Diner. People watched as the Mills sisters squared off, fully expecting another witch fight between the two.
Just as things were about to get violent, Emma suddenly waves her hands freezing the two on the spot before holding up one of her Dreamcatchers that she conjured with a flume of red smoke that was the same shade of red as her leather jacket.
The Dreamcatcher glowed yellow as they showed the two sisters memory after memory, starting from when Cora brought Zelena from Oz as a child to save a child Regina after she was fatally injured by one of Cora's magical items. They watched as Zelena' saved Regina and then the two bonded and eventually realized that they were sisters, only for Cora to rip their fledgling bond apart by erasing their memories of the incident and sending Zelena back to Oz, with no memory of having had a sister she could've loved and been loved by, while Regina was returned to her path to become the Evil Queen.
After that memory, the two were shown all the events of their respective lives that made them who they became.
Regina watched Zelena being abused and beaten by her adoptive father who hated magic and called his daughter Wicked from an early age when all she wanted was love. She then watched as it seemed everyone was working against her, from friends who betrayed her, family who abandoned her and lovers who sought to use her for their own means. All seemingly working towards turning her into the Wicked Witch, while her sister seemingly got everything she wanted.
However, as Zelena learned from her own viewings Regina's life was far from ideal as she watches as Regina was regularly all but tortured by Cora, abused practically from an early age by her own mother's, who'd use magic to control her. She watched as Regina fell in love with a Stable Boy, Daniel Colter and the two planned to run away together. She watched as Cora manipulated an innocent child – Snow White, she realized – into telling her about Regina's love and their plans, resulting in Cora killing Daniel in front of Regina.
She watched as Regina was forced to marry Snow's father, King Leopold who was far older than her young age of 19, and the brutality of her marriage that eventually led to her becoming the Evil Queen.
She watched as Regina fell into darkness and madness and despair in her desire for revenge against Snow and her war against her former stepmother. She watched all of the pain, anger and betrayal that Regina went through until, on the verge of utter madness, betrayed her few remaining allies and then cast the Dark Curse by killing her beloved father and using his heart to cast the Curse.
Once the assault of memories was over, barely seconds had passed as Emma freed them from being frozen in place, and watched with a smile as the two immediately hugged in tears. Other than Emma, those watching were absolutely baffled by the sudden change.
Snow looked at her daughter, who was happily tickling the tummy of her baby brother, Neal. Emma felt that she summed it up nicely with "Long story short: Cora's a Bitch, your Dad was a Dick and Oz is a Shithole."
Regina smirked at her friend as she and Zelena pulled away from each other. "I think that sums it up nicely, Miss Swan." She and Emma shared a smile that was lost on no one, with some like Red, Henry, Whale, Zelena and even Gold, Snow and Robin rolling their eyes at their obliviousness. The Mills sisters and the Dark Swan explained what had just happened, with Zelena saying that, despite everything, that she wished to be part of her daughter's life.
Robin smiled and nodded, as Emma asked excitedly for the baby's name. It went without saying that it was in payment for the memory show.
After Zelena threatened Robin if he called their daughter 'Marian' after his late wife, the Prince of Thieves announced the name of his daughter: "Margot Locksley Mills."
The little baby was oblivious to the cheers, but tightened her little hand around the stuffed lion toy her Mommy gave her.
After that things started to calm down a bit. When Regina and Robin had broken up, he encouraged her to ask out Emma, as did Zelena and a long suffering Henry, who said that he wanted 'Operation SwanQueen' to succeed. Emma likewise was getting grilled by her mother to do the same.
"I'm not sure about this, Mom." A nervous and disbelieving Emma told her mother as they stood together in the Charming Family Loft.
Snow had to resist the urge to face palm and scream in frustration at her daughter's oblivious stubbornness. "Emma Ruth Swan-White, you and Regina have been dancing around each other since you first met! To be perfectly frank with you, we're all sick of it!"
Emma blinked in shock at her mother's words and the sheer frustration in the voice of the normally calm and kind Snow White. "Really? Was I that obvious?" she asked in surprise. She knew she felt something for the other mother of her son, but she never thought her feelings were reciprocated or that her feelings were known by others, especially her parents.
Apparently she was wrong.
"YES!!" Both Snow and Charming, with the latter sitting next to his wife with their son on his lap, shouted in equal frustration.
"IH!" Baby Neal shouted with his Mommy and Daddy, not knowing why his parents were shouting at his Big Sissy but wanting to join in.
The Charmings looked at their son in amused surprise for a moment, before Snow said "Sweetheart, when you were living with me, as Mary Margaret, you'd regularly alternate between complaining about Regina keeping you from Henry, to talking about how much you liked how she filled out her outfits." She revealed. Actually Emma was always more… vivid in her appreciation of Regina's body, but Snow had a baby next to her so was going to avoid any such language as much as she could.
Emma blinked again. Snow calmed down and took her daughter's hands in her own. "Emma, we love you and we will always support you, no matter what." Went without saying was the times they'd failed to do so. "But we want you to stop costing us money to Red every month- I mean we want you to find True Love, and if that's with Regina than we'll be happy for you." She told her daughter, ignoring her brief mistaken comment.
Emma's jaw dropped. "You were betting on us?!" she asked incredulously.
David looked at his daughter with deadpan. "Emma, the entire town has been betting on you both for years."
Snow nodded sheepishly. "When we were Cursed originally, Ruby started the best between the two of us after you won the Sheriff Election. After that it spread across the town, and continued even after the Curse broke. Hell, Robin asked if the two of you were together after he saw you both together during the Second Curse, and was even getting on you both when he was dating Regina."
Emma's jaw was well and truly on the floor now. "Seriously?!" she asked incredulously.
Her parents nodded solemnly. Then Snow said "Now, as your friend, I am going to tell you to quit moping and go get your girl!" she said with an expression that was part friendly but mostly exasperation. "As your mother, however, I am going to tell you to get off your ass and tell your girl how you feel, or your grounded Young Lady, or so help me I will find that Dagger of yours and make you!"
Emma laughed in surprise, and at the idea of her parents grounding the Dark One/Savior. "Okay, okay. I'll go. But if you're wrong and she says no, then you're to forget this bet of yours."
"Yes, Yes, whatever!" Snow said utterly dismissive as she took her son to feed him. "No go, now! Shoo with you!"
David laughed and hugged his daughter. "It's alright to be nervous." He told her as he kissed her on the forehead. "Just be yourself. You've got this."
Emma let out a shuddering laugh/sigh full of nerves. "Right. Be myself – and probably get a fireball in my face in return. No I'm not nervous at all, what are you talking about?" she asked sarcastically.
David chuckled. "You won't get a fireball. You might be surprised. Go on." He nodded at the door and pushed her towards it.
"Okay-Okay, I'm going. Wish me luck." She said with a nervous laugh, which became a loud laugh as Snow called back "Good luck! Have fun! We won't wait up this time!" she said with a laugh of her own.
Emma made her way to 108 Mifflin Street, the home Regina shared with their son for 10 years. She knocked on the door and wasn't surprised when Henry answered it. Clearly seeing her nervousness, he barely let her speak before calling out "Mom! Ma is here to see you!" the smile he gave his blond mother was borderline evil as Regina came to the door.
As she always was when around the former Evil Queen, Emma was in awe of her beauty and subtly looked her up and down and was only just able to suppress the moan of appreciation at the sight of Regina in a dark red tight dress.
With Henry watching, Emma and Regina shared a bit of banter for a moment before the Dark Swan finally worked up the courage to ask Regina out for a drink and maybe a meal she hadn't cooked herself. Regina, who had been getting her own 3rd degree by numerous people, blushed prettily and agreed.
Before Regina could ask Henry if he'd be okay for a few hours alone, he slammed the door behind his mother's as they stood on the porch with a cheerful and relieved "Have fun! See you both tomorrow!"
The Dark Swan and the Evil Queen looked at each other for a moment in shock, before laughing with each other before heading off for their date.
Naturally they made their way to a nice restaurant in town and enjoyed their date. Their date went very well, and ended with the two embracing their feelings for each other, making out and not leaving the Swan House until late into the afternoon of the next day.
It wasn't a surprise to others when they announced that they were now dating, with Red – among other people – being heard to exclaim "Fucking Finally!"
The Swan Queen romance finally coming about after years of frustration of those around them was not the only new occurrence in Storybrooke.
Rumpelstiltskin and Belle had their conversation about Rumple's attempt to regain his Dark One powers. Surprisingly, when Belle suggested that maybe Gold should visit Dr. Archie Hopper aka Jiminy Cricket, the Town Therapist, the former Dark One surprised everyone by agreeing to talk about his problems, which he'd admit he had many.
It seemed his conversation with Emma, and his choosing Belle over Power had made him determined to be worthy of his wife. The knowledge of Belle's pregnancy made him all the more determined.
However, despite Gold's clear determination to change for his family, his past would come back to bite him as Moe French, known in the Enchanted Forest as King Maurice, Belle's father, sought to finally 'free' his daughter from the clutches of 'the Beast' that had taken her away.
He and several other men with grievances against the former Dark One all went to Gold's shop to get their revenge. Belle had been there and had pleaded with her father to leave Rumple alone, only for Moe, now aware of their pregnancy, to tell Belle, as a 'comfort', that once she was free of the Beast's clutches they'd make sure that his spawn was removed for the Good of them all.
Justifiably outraged at the threat to their child, Gold stood between his wife and her father and told him to leave Belle and the child alone and take him. But then something shocking happened as one of Moe's men fired a shot at Rumple just as Moe shoved the former Dark One away, which would've resulted in Belle getting shot.
However, much to the shock of everyone – especially Rumple himself – he threw up a magical barrier that blocked the bullet, saving his wife and child just as Emma, having been called by Gold before he'd been shoved by Moe, arrived in a plume of red smoke. She took one look at the scene and immediately restrained Moe and his thugs.
She ran up to the Golds. "You two okay?" she asked as they stood up, Rumple immediately checking on his wife.
"Yes thank you, Emma." Belle responded as she held her hand on her stomach protectively. She turned to her husband who was staring at his hand in shock. "Rumple?" she asked placing her hand on his shoulder. "How did you...?" she began to ask.
But Rumple was visibly shocked as he looked at his hands. "I… I don't know. I never had magic before I became the Dark One." He insisted in shock.
"Everyone has a spark of Magic, Dearie. It just takes something special to light that spark into a flame." Emma said with a giggle, before immediately frowning and grimaced. "Oh, I'm sorry. Sometimes the Dark One's knowledge comes out in really… irritating ways." Remembering that the Dark One she'd just mimicked was in the room she said sheepishly "No offence."
But Gold waved her off, her words having taken him out of his shock. "It's fine. You're right. I'd forgotten the Spark of Magic, I didn't learn that myself until long after I'd become the Dark One. And never did I expect that I was capable of LIGHT magic". Because that is exactly what he'd just used to protect Belle and there child.
"Not surprising if you really think about it." Emma said with a shrug. The Golds looked at her in question as she responded to their looks. "Do you remember what I said when I woke you from your coma, Rumple? I paraphrase 'You are not Dark, you are not Light. You're heart is a blank slate."
Rumple nodded in realization. "And, apart from my original attempt to regain my power, this was the first time I'd used magic, and it was to protect Belle." He said as he held his wife with his hand on her belly where their child was growing.
Emma smiled proudly. "Which has nudged your magic JUST into the Light." She told him and Belle smiled as she hugged. It went without saying that it might be more difficult for him to stay in that alignment. The Dark Swan shook her head. "Now, you two had best get to the hospital just to get a check up to be safe. I'll take this trash to the sheriff's station." She nodded to Moe French and his thugs.
Rumple and Belle nodded in agreement, with Belle refusing to look at her father as she passed him, his expression was one of a man betrayed. "Thank you again, Emma." Belle said gratefully to her friend. But Rumple had to ask "What do we owe you, Dark One?" Belle tried to chastise him, but Gold knew better than anyone of the Dark One's need for deals, and Emma helping them meant they owed her.
Emma smiled, understanding why he'd ask, simply asked innocently "Can I be Godmother?" getting laughter from the two, more relieved in some ways, but they nodded in response.
As the Golds left, Emma vanished with Moe and his thugs in a plume of red smoke.
Thankfully, after a check-up by Dr. Whale/Frankenstein, Gold and Belle were happy that their baby was okay, and Whale was even able to tell them that they were expecting a little baby boy.
Moe was interrogated by Emma and Davis. When he revealed that he was willing to have Belle abort her child, whether she was willing or not, Davis had to place a hand on his daughter's shoulder to stop her rubbing the poor excuse of a father's heart out, though he was tempted to kill the man himself.
Moe was sentenced, alongside his thugs to the new Storybrooke Prison, which was created in the newest Curse. It was magically warded so that no magic could be used within its walls, and it was for those who were too dangerous by Storybrooke standards.
The prison was designed with villains such as Cora, Rumpelstiltskin and Peter Pan in mind, specifically designed to hold the worst offenders.
Following the attack, Rumple tried to learn how to control his newly discovered Magic, which as he'd expected was harder than he'd like, long used to practicing Dark Magic than Light. While he was no where near as strong as he once was, he was strong enough for spells and potions and the like to protect his family. His biggest struggle came from his struggle from wanting more power but without the Darkness plaguing him it was much easier.
Months later, Belle gave birth to their son who they named Gideon Benjamin Gold. Rumple held his son and swore to do better than he had with his first son, Baelfire.
The relationship between Emma and Regina continued to grow stronger, though now it had gotten to the point where they were irritating everyone with just HOW in love they were. Even Charming and Snow – The King and Queen of PDA – were irritated by how the two would just randomly be staring at each other lovingly, making out over the slightest thing IN PUBLIC and an extreme inability to keep their hands off of each other.
Henry had taken to regularly sleeping over at his grandparent's place or at the Apprentice's Mansion, because Emma and Regina seemed determined to make for all the years they'd missed out on. Unfortunately they regularly FORGOT to cast the silencing spells!
The two were practically glued to the hip these days, and when they did part, they'd just sit there, Emma at the Sheriff's Station with her father and Regina at the Mayor's Office, sighing at nothing with blissful expressions on their faces, irritating everyone to no end.
Eventually, things came to a head when, during what essentially an intervention, Red was the one to say what everyone was thinking. As Emma and Regina sat in their cubicle at Granny's, making out like a pair of schoolgirls, seemingly oblivious to the irritation of everyone around them, Red snapped.
"Right! That's it! I've had enough of you two and your inability to keep it in your pants!" the Big Bad Wolf exclaimed, saying what everyone was thinking. At first she was ecstatic about their relationship as she, like everyone, was annoyed by Emma and Regina's obliviousness to their clear feelings to each other. However she wasn't above profiting from their obliviousness, as Red had bet that the two would remain oblivious for at least several years. With every month that passed Red made more and more money as the two regularly failed to realize what everyone else did when others thought they would.
But if she knew it was going to be like this, she'd have asked Gold for a fucking cock blocker spell or something!
As the Diner was silenced by her shout, Emma and Regina finally pulled away to look at Red and everyone else in curiosity. Sure enough everyone was looking at them in irritation. Even Snow, Charming and Henry sat across from them. Even Baby Neal in his Mommy's arms looked frustrated at his Big Sissy and Sissy's Ginnie, though that might be because his Auntie Red had woken him from his nap. How dare she?!
"Miss Lucas, is there a problem?" Regina asked in her 'Evil Queen' voice. "Yeah, Rubes. What's wrong?"
But Red, also known as Ruby Lucas, was not intimidated by the glares of the Evil Queen and the Dark Swan. "The problem is that you two have done what no one before you had done before! You've taken the PDA crown from Snow and Charming!"
As Regina and Emma blinked, Charming drew attention as he exclaimed "Hey, we're not THAT bad!" he pointed at his daughter and her girlfriend.
"Yes, you are. Now shush!" Red told him instantly, getting nods from practically everyone. She turned by to the Swan Queen couple who were smirking now. "Well? What do you two have to say for yourselves?!" she demanded.
"This." Emma said with a smirk as she turned to her girlfriend. "Pay up, Your Majesty." She said, holding out her hand.
Regina let out a sigh of annoyance and glared at Snow White and said "The one time I actually WANT you to say something, and you for once in life stay quiet." Snow blinked as Regina handed Emma a $100 note.
Henry said what they were all thinking. "What the f-?!" he began but his mothers interrupted him. "Language!!"
Snow asked again "What?" her tone demanded answers. Now!
"Well Regina and I had a bet that Ruby would be the first of you all to snap. Thanks, Rubes, you just won me 100 bucks and more later." Emma revealed with an evil smirk.
Zelena walked up, having been listening from nearby as she cradled Margot. "Wait, are you saying that all the disgusting sugary sweetness crap was all for a bet?!"
Regina smirked at her sister. "Well, when Emma told me on our date about how the entire town was betting on us, we felt well within our rights to get our revenge."
"And if we got to make up for lost time in the process, all the better." Emma said with a beautiful smile as she kissed her girlfriend lovingly.
Henry closed his eyes as he tried to work through his parent's 'logic' and 'thought process'. "Wait, so let me get this straight. All of this was for a bet? Are the two of you actually together?" he asked hopefully, because he knew they loved each other, he just didn't want to see them ACTING on it ALL THE TIME.
"Oh we are together, Dear." Regina said with a loving grin at her beloved son. "We have been since our date. We just wanted to torture you all for betting on us."
Really, their relationship was going wonderfully. No longer did the two hold back from each other, finally able to act on their feelings. Their first night together had been in the Swan House after their date, after they'd admitted that they'd been dating for years and just never noticed.
It was as they lay together in bed that Regina would learn exactly what Emma has done with the Dark One Dagger. Namely, she'd turned it in into a tattoo on her back. And as Regina traced her girlfriends name on her back, the two lovers concocted their revenge scheme. They sealed it with a kiss.
Upon learning of all of this, the Charmings, Henry, Zelena, Red and – Hell, everyone in the Diner, looked at the two in great annoyance. Finally, Red spoke up in a tight voice "Do you mean to tell me, that you have been practically torturing us with your excessive PDA… to punish us?!" her eyes were amber as she was practically snarling.
"Well that will teach you not to bet against us, Dearie." Emma said with a giggle. Any amusement she felt quickly fled as Ruby took her unfinished plate of grilled cheese and walked away. "Hey, Ruby! I haven't finished with that! My grilled cheese!" she called, practically crawling over Regina and chasing the Werewolf for her meal.
But Ruby was uncaring. "You should've thought of that before tormenting us single girls!" she called back as the Dark Swan chased her.
Laughing at her girlfriend, Regina turned to her annoyed son. She raised her eyebrow at him before smiling. "Are you okay with your mother and I being together, Henry?" she asked nervously.
Henry still looked annoyed but then smiled himself. "Mom, I'm happy you and Ma. I just really don't want to see or hear it 24/7." He said.
Regina smiled at her son and kissed his forehead. She smiled at Snow and Charming who were clearly happy for them also. Though she did notice the annoyed look from the Blue Fairy.
Ignoring the arrogant and hypocritical Fairy, Regina asked Henry what he'd been doing recently. Henry cheerfully and excitedly talked about his studies of his abilities as the Author at the Apprentice's Mansion, while Emma was now chased by Granny aiming a crossbow at her.