I don't own these characters.

Epilogue: Another day

Emma groaned as she felt movement beside her. Refusing to open her eyes, she pulled Regina closer to her. Regina curled into her, pressing more amazingly naked skin against Emma, and she felt delicious kisses on her throat. This is possibly the greatest way to ever wake up. She found it a bit funny that a month ago she had been worried about how things would turn out for them. Apparently, dying had changed Regina for the better and made her reprioritize her life.

For the past month, Regina had been a "new" woman, but not entirely. Emma suspected this was who Regina was underneath all of the power and pizzazz. Without needing to control the universe and accepting she had what she always wanted, Regina was a caring, almost kind and warm individual… in the house anyway. Outside, with the plebeians – as she insisted they were – she was still standoffish, maybe even a little skittish of, considering the last time she had seen most of them, they were part of a lynch mob out for her blood. Funny enough, she was still their mayor, though, despite the fact that the town had been trying their best to get a new leader.

Inside, though, Regina was… just awesome. It was the only way Emma could describe it. She was, for lack of a better word, happy. Maybe content. She liked doing chores for and with Emma and Henry. She was openly affectionate, more so with Henry than with Emma while Henry was in view to avoid scarring the poor kid.

Emma groaned as she felt another kiss right underneath her chin. "I like waking up this way." She wrapped her arms around Regina's petite form as a few more kisses covered her neck. Emma practically melted at the feel of Regina's breasts pressed against her. She doubted she would ever grow tired of it.

"That makes two of us," Regina replied, sitting up to look into Emma's eyes. Emma had her eyes barely open, but enough to see Regina staring at her.

Emma loved it when Regina locked eyes with her. She could see her emotions and the love still there. It was not some madness induced by the wasting curse or something Emma had imagined in exhaustion. It was almost overwhelming, to know she was dear to someone, to know someone actually wanted to take care of her, to know someone actually wanted her. But, beyond being overwhelming it was… well, awesome.

"But, I wish we didn't wake up so early," Emma whined a bit, running her hand down Regina's back. She liked having Regina pressed against her, feeling smooth skin. A few days ago, she came across a single bump on Regina's side freaked out until Regina explained a bee had stung her while tending her garden and the wound was healing.

Regina kissed her chin once more and then smiled at her. "Well, you don't have to wake up."

"Tell that to your kisses," Emma remarked, eyes closed once more. Her hands continued to slid against Regina, caressing her sides and her ass. The perfect ass, as far as she was concerned.

Emma reveled in the feel of Regina. What would I have done without this? How was I supposed to go on? She knew not knowing how something felt made it easy to live without it, but she was sure she would have felt a void for the rest of her life if she missed out on kisses and cuddles with Regina.

The older woman laughed. "You're the one that always pulls me back. I have to get up to make breakfast and you never let me just get up."

"Because I can't sleep when you're not next to me. I think I might be addicted to you. Is there a Regina anonymous?" Emma joked. Of course, it was entirely true that she could not sleep without Regina next to her. She woke up in cold sweats and fading dreams of holding a withering queen in her arms. If Regina was not by her side when she woke up, she often feared Regina had actually died. On nights like that, she always sought Regina out, sometimes finding the mayor had simply rolled away from her in bed. Other times, she would find Regina downstairs, looking out into the backyard, staring at her tree. Emma held her at times like that, neither of them saying anything.

Regina gave her a soft smile. "No, Sheriff, there is not. Now, if you want breakfast before you go off to work, you'll let me up."

"I don't want breakfast just yet." Emma allowed her fingers to dance along Regina's spine.

Regina chuckled again as Emma pulled her completely on top of her. "Are you sure you don't want breakfast?"

"Well, a different type than what you were offering anyway," Emma remarked with a grin. How could she not want something else with an almost nude Regina lying prone against her?

Regina wasted no time leaning in to kiss Emma on the lips. There was a subtle hum that vibrated through their skin whenever they kissed. Regina had explained it was their magic, drawn to each other like ends of a magnet. It was weak, an enjoyable tickle. It actually made for a pleasant sensation, enhancing kisses and more, but Emma doubted she would ever get used to it. She could however get used to everything else, no matter how crazy it was.

The month since Regina had revived had been anything but calm. The town had almost been destroyed and Regina helped her save it… or she helped Regina save it. It was hard to tell, but either way, people now had to look at Regina beyond the whole "Evil Queen" title. Of course, they usually did not. The town held a grudge like nobody's business, Emma noted. She wondered if they learned from Regina how to do that or if this was also something cultural, like everyone in the old world held a grudge like it was a lifeline.

Gold had yet to call on his favor. Emma was not sure why, not that she cared. The moment he tried, she would threaten to tell Belle about what he did to Regina. She had learned Belle was just about the only person who could keep Gold in line. While he was not a standup citizen, he pretended to be when Belle was around and anything that might shake Belle's image of him was something he did not want.

Emma felt like Morgan had something to do with Gold not asking for his favor, though. Gold was incredibly wary of the redheaded witch. Emma wondered how powerful Morgan was if she could make the dreaded Dark One pause for so long. But, she tried to mentally prepare for when the day would come. She had her way out, but she was not sure if she would not completely fly off the handle at him. Even when she saw him from a distance, she wanted to just beat him in the knees with a metal pipe. I wonder how the hell Morgan handles seeing him on the street.

Regina avoided seeing him on the streets; she told Emma as much. It was not that she was frightened of him, but she was not sure how she would react. She did not want to do anything that might trouble Henry, who had faith in his mom again and believed she was capable of doing the right thing and being a hero, like when she saved the town.

Beyond that, both Emma and Regina had settled into a nice little domestic rhythm along with Henry. Inside the house, they were just a regular family. They did a lot of things together, especially reading books, cooking, and cleaning dishes. It was strange that these chores had actually become favorites for them to do as a family.

"If you keep this up, Emma, you'll have to get up and help me make breakfast," Regina teased as they both knew that was not much of a threat.

Emma grinned and sat up just enough to properly kiss Regina. Regina tasted so great. Emma doubted she would ever get enough. Regina seemed to be of like mind, kissing Emma back. They pulled away for air briefly, but Regina dived right back in.

Best of all was exploring these new affections they had for each other. While they had not repeated their declarations of love yet, they could see it in each other's eyes. Emma and Regina were always close now, touching if possible. Sometimes, it was because of panic. Emma needed to feel Regina to be reminded she was still alive, needed to see her to know everything was fine. But, there was also just this desire to be near Regina. It was like being a teenager in love.

Then, of course, there was the kissing. Regina was awesome at kissing. From their first day together, they had spent time trying to control the urge to kiss, but it was all in vain. By the time they had lunch after threatening Gold, Emma itched to kiss Regina again. They had held each other the whole time, but as soon as they got out of Morgan's company and were in the mansion, she had to kiss Regina and did. They had kissed until Henry came home.

When it had been time for bed that day, there were no questions where Emma would go. They shared Regina's bed from that point on, both sure it was the only way they would get any sleep. There was also no talk of waiting. Being together seemed to reassure them that Regina was alive and well and they had this connection, a connection more powerful than anything either of them expected or experienced before.

Emma returned Regina's kiss, tongue lapping at Regina's bottom lip. Regina obliged to the silent request and opened her mouth for Emma. Emma moaned at the feel of Regina's tongue against her own and her hands roamed Regina's back. Feeling the curve of her spine and the swell of her ass made Emma feel lightheaded.

"You do know we don't have time for this," Regina said as she pulled away, earning a whine from Emma.

"I can be late," Emma pointed out. The town could go on a crime spree for an hour for all she cared if it meant she got to stay in bed with Regina, especially if she got to feel all of Regina's skin against her own.

"I know, but our son still needs his breakfast," Regina countered.

Emma scoffed. "He'd love the excuse not to go in and hang out here with us for a while."

Regina smiled; it was a sight that Emma would never get tired of. Reaching up, Emma caressed Regina's cheek. It was warm and full of color. Emma had to kiss her again. It was desperate and burning, consuming both of them. Regina continued smiling when they pulled away for air.

"I'm still here, Emma. I'm still here," Regina promised.

"Me, too," Emma replied.

"I imagine after seeing me at my worse, you'll stick around for the better parts for a while just for the balance," Regina remarked.

Emma rubbed Regina's cheek again, all the way down to her neck. Warm skin against her calloused fingertips felt like heaven. Watching Regina shudder from her touch and flush from the attention was something beyond that.

Emma smiled. "You know, when you're not using your wit to call me an idiot in as complicated way as possible, you're almost funny. But, I think I will stick around for a while just to make sure you're cured."

"How magnanimous of you."

Emma chuckled. Despite all of the doubts she had, and continue to have, she was certain she would stick with Regina, and partly for the reasons they both just joked about. Eventually, they would get back to normal, they would be at each other's throats, they would get on each other's nerves, she might run, and Regina might push, but she was a firm believer that the malice between them, the poison was gone. Instead, there was this affection, desire, and genuine love between them, which might have always been there or might have sprung up in dire times. Either way, she was there and Regina was there. They were drawn to each other, so they would always come back together. They would stay.

"I really do have to get up to make breakfast. Henry will be getting up soon," Regina reminded her.

Emma sighed. "Well, I guess you do have to feed our kid. But, I'm putting a bookmark on this and we'll revisit it tonight. Actually, from this point." She fondled Regina's bare breast, tracing soft skin until the center stood at attention.

Regina chuckled and leaned down for one last kiss before Emma released her. Regina slid out of bed and put on pajama pants that were lying over a chair. Emma watched her and smiled throughout the little show as Regina pulled the pants on teasingly slow. After that, Regina eased on a t-shirt also over the chair, one of Emma's t-shirts to be exact. Emma was not sure why Regina always put on one of her shirts, but she did. She also seemed to have a thing for Emma's pajama pants now, but they were not essential like the shirts.

"You really love my clothes, huh?" Emma grinned.

Regina scoffed. "They're just easier to put on in a rush," she replied and then she exited the room.

Emma laughed. She liked playful Regina, who always said something she did not mean and allowed her eyes to betray her heart, at least to Emma. It was that emotional openness that also kept Emma around. She was happy and while she knew it was not an emotion that lasted for a long time, she started believing if she stuck around through the bad times, good times would happen again. After all, had they not proven just that when they beat the unbeatable curse?

-8-8-8-8-

Regina rubbed her hands along Emma's t-shirt and pajamas pants as she made her way downstairs, soothed by the feel and the smell. She was actually quite careful when she laundered Emma's clothing, never wanting the detergent smell to be able to overpower Emma's natural scent. Of course, she only wore clothing that Emma had already worn, so the sweet aroma that was Emma was always there.

Ever since being cured, Regina found she needed to be near Emma or have something of Emma's nearby. If not, she had full-blown panic attacks. She often satisfied this by wearing Emma's clothing, especially her tank tops, which went underneath Regina's own clothing. It kept anxiety from creeping inside of her and crippling her with irrational fear of dying again. There were other fears.

Despite Emma claiming that she would always be there, Regina worried that was not the case. Even though she had told Emma about the worst things she had ever done, cleansed her soul to Emma really, she wondered when those things would finally sink in and get Emma to leave. They had faced one of her sins already in Greg, also known as Owen. He had nearly destroyed the town because of her selfishness and evil.

Emma had known about it, known what Regina had done to this poor boy, but seeing the result of it was different. She had retreated for a day and Regina felt like she was allowed that and more. But, of course, while she was gone, Regina was a mess inside and out. Breathing had been hard and the only thing that kept her moving was caring for Henry. And then Emma came back. She came back and still had affection – real love – in her eyes.

She remembered that day so clearly, remembered Emma embracing her, kissing her, and whispering sweet words and begging for forgiveness for running. There was nothing to forgive. She came back. That was enough. It would always be enough.

Regina was terrified there might be a day when Emma did not come back. She did her best to ignore that because she was not going to ruin this. She promised herself she would not ruin this with her insecurities or worries. Emma saw her through the worst moment of her life and brought Henry back to her, so she would do her best to keep them both close. So, she had been on her best behavior, to the point of seeing Doctor Hopper.

In fact, they all saw Doctor Hopper, sometimes as much as five times a week. Even Morgan confessed to seeing the doctor on occasion. The psychological trauma of the wasting curse seemed like it would be with them for quite a long time, which made Regina hate Rumple all the more. She wanted to crush him, fertilize her garden with his flesh, and litter her garden with his bones. But, she held off, as Doctor Hopper assured her that was not the healthiest way of handling the situation. She conceded to him for the simple fact that history had proven time and time again that her decisions were hardly helpful to her problems. She hoped he helped her family in the same way he helped her.

They had not gotten to the point where any of them could talk about what happened with each other. Occasionally, they could mention something, but it was very rare. One of them having an answer to a comment was rarer still. Sometimes, they would look at each other, so shattered, so full of despair, and terror and all they could do was hug, which seemed to say more than words could for now. They were still a unit, still a family, and Gold had not ruined them. They were fighters and they would pull through.

"But, damn that imp to the fiery depths of Hell anyway," she hissed, making a tight fist. Her nails bit into her palm, but she did not feel anything beyond her fury toward Rumple. For him to put that weight on Emma and Henry, Regina would never forgive him. Ever.

Shaking those thoughts away, she began on breakfast. Today would pancakes and omelets. She enjoyed this simple routine. Since getting this second chance at life, she learned to accept the good things in her life and she was happy with those things. She was learning to allow herself to be happy, even if the damned town wanted to make that as hard as possible. The joke was on them, though. She did not give a damn what they thought anymore.

Like Emma, she knew happiness was not a perpetual thing, but she had only just learned this and it started with Emma telling her. There was no "happily ever after" in this world maybe even in the old world. People and emotions changed. She would have to learn to deal with it, but as long as Emma and Henry were there, she would be able to. She felt calmer now in life for some reason. Dying was a life-changing experience.

"Hey, Mom," Henry muttered, stumbling into the dining room. His clothing stuck to his body as he had a habit of not drying off completely after a shower. She supposed it had to do with the fact that he was not completely awake yet and would not be until he ate.

"Good morning," she replied and went to hug him. He returned the embrace and kissed her cheek and she smiled.

"Oh, pancakes. Can I have four?" he requested with an elfish twinkle in his eye.

Regina nodded. He was growing and ate large portions now. She suspected he was also copying Emma, who did not eat very often, but when she did, she ate a lot. Regina hoped to take care of Emma and get her to eat regularly, amongst other things.

"Go make sure Emma's up," Regina told their son.

Henry nodded and trotted off. Regina made their breakfasts plates while Henry fetched Emma. There were pancakes, omelets, diced fruit, and orange juice; well, apple juice for her. By the time she had everything on the table, she found some other things were possibly genetic. Emma came downstairs with her clothing stuck to her, as she seemed to have a problem drying herself completely after showers like their son. She also was not fully awake until she ate.

"Damn, this looks good," Emma declared as she slid into her seat, knowing it was hers from the six pancakes stacked in front of it.

"Emma," Regina scolded her for her language.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Henry, make sure you don't use words like that," she said, only to appease Regina. They both knew what Henry spoke like when it was just him and Emma, though.

Henry, not wanting to lie, just waved it off. "I'm so hungry," he declared as he cut into his stack of four pancakes.

Regina did not understand how he could be hungry when he just woke up and he had a full dinner last night. But, she was pleased he ate and he smiled while doing so. Emma smiled at both of them and Regina felt at ease.

"No Morgan?" Emma asked, nodding toward the empty chair.

Regina shook her head. "I suppose not. She'll probably be by for dinner." She had made extra food just in case Morgan popped up, though.

"Cool," Henry chimed in. He had taken a liking to Morgan, which Regina was happy about. The feeling was definitely mutual, Morgan practically beaming whenever she was in Henry's company.

Morgan came by everyday. She had abandoned her Storybrooke persona altogether. She had few friends and never really explained to Regina what she did with her time now that she was Morgana Le fay again. Regina did not pry, enjoying when Morgan came by regardless. They gardened together, practiced magic together, tried to tutor Emma in magic, and sat around sipping tea and talking together. It was pleasant and Regina hoped it would grow.

"What are you doing in school today, kid?" Emma asked before stuffing her mouth with as many pieces of cut pancake she could manage. Syrup dripped down her lip and she smirked at Regina before licking it off. Regina rolled her eyes.

"Yes, did you finish your project?" Regina inquired, cutting her own short stack. This was Regina's favorite part of everyday. They had conversations over breakfast and dinner and Henry spoke openly. He was not upset with her and he spoke to her just as he spoke to Emma.

Henry nodded. "I finished everything last night. I'm gonna tell the teacher you helped, too, after she tells me I got an A," he stated confidently with his head high and a wide grin.

"That's unnecessary," Regina replied.

"Nope, it's really necessary. It's not fair that she thinks she can just say bad stuff about you and then talk about how great I am because I'm Snow White's grandson," he stated and rolled his eyes.

Regina knew not to argue. Henry was at war with his teacher, who had expressed serious problems with Regina being alive. Henry was polite to her, but always made sure she understood things she praised him for were there because of Regina. As much as he loved his grandmother and grandfather, he would let anyone know he was the way he was because of his mothers.

Of course, this made Regina concede that some of him was because of Emma. She could deal with it because some of her was made possible because of Emma. It was also tolerable because Emma would say lots of who she was now was made possible because of Henry and Regina.

"Speaking of Grams and Gramps, are you gonna go see them today, Emma?" he asked curiously.

Emma shrugged. "I dunno."

"Gramps wants to go ride horses. Come on, it'll be fun. Mom'll come to," Henry declared. He always tried to get Emma to interact with her parents. Regina was sure he did it more for his grandparents than anything else, but he did his best to keep his family together.

"I will?" Regina asked and he grinned at her.

"You will," Henry vowed, his dimples showing. Of course she would when he looked at her like that.

In truth, Regina was doing her best to mend things with Snow White and Charming. They were Emma's parents and Emma was trying to build something them, as was Henry. Regina did not want to stand in the way of that. So, she had met with Snow and Charming only days after being cured of the wasting curse and spoke with them, not at them. It took much explaining and more conversations, as well as revelations about her and Emma's feelings, but they seemed to be on the right track. Hell, she hated to think she might actually like them one day.

Emma sighed. "Fine, I'll come. But, no trying to get me on a horse. In fact, anybody's horse comes within two feet of me, I'm shooting it. Twice."

Mother and son laughed. Horses were not fond of Emma and the feeling was mutual. This made things a little hard for Emma as she found out Regina loved horses and Henry desperately wanted to know how to ride. But, Emma enjoyed being around them, so she would bear with it. Much like Regina would bear being around the shepherd for Henry.

Emma was still on the fence about her parents. She accepted they were her parents, but she treated them more like people she knew. Regina was not sure if Emma would ever get the relationship beyond that. As long as Emma was fine with that, Regina would not pressure her into anything else.

Honestly, they were still feeling their way around each other. While Regina was sure they would make it, she knew there would be tough times ahead. She was there to stay because Emma was inside of her. Smiling over at Emma, she suspected Emma had pieces of Regina inside of her. One day, they would probably even be able to say that to each other, but for now, this was more than enough.

The End.

Thanks for taking this ride with me. This Lunatic is going back to her padded cell now, but hopefully I'll be back with another tale. If you want, you can check out my books, Scarred for Life or Please, Baby. There are links on my profile. Thanks for all of the support.