Epilogue

"I believe it was fate that brought us together, fate that destined our lives to become one. I believe that we were truly meant to be together even though it took us almost seven years to figure that out for ourselves. I remember the first letter I ever got from you even though it took me weeks to respond, I remember every letter after that, all the emails and the phone calls that transpired over the years. I don't know when I fell in love with you, I just know that when I realized it, everything in my life changed forever. I don't think I believed in true love before I met you, Emma, but I believe in it now, just as I believe you are my soul mate, my one and my only. Everything else I have gone through in my life was just a path that paved its way to you."

"Regina, words cannot describe how much I love you, nor can actions. When we first met, through our letters, I found it so easy to pour my heart out to you, to a complete stranger I hand picked you off a list to get out of some heavy trouble at the time. I don't know what it was that made me pick you, but I'm forever grateful that I did. I gained a friend, a best friend, and then a lover, and now my wife."

"You're not married yet!" August said and Emma laughed and shook her head.

"Like you, I believe it was fate that brought us together, Regina. We have gone through so very much, together and on our own, but I don't want to know a life without you in it and I know I never will have to after today. You are the light in my life do you know that? You are the sunbeams I was chasing years ago, the light shining through on a stormy, dreary day. I know, I know, you said something very similar to me once, but it rang so true in my heart that I couldn't find a better way to put it into words just what you are to me, what you'll always be. We are as different as we are alike and I could spend all day listing off all the things that I love about you, but your mother is here and there are kids with impressionable young minds listening."

Regina chuckled and wiped at the tears that had started to fall. Emma shook her head and leaned in to kiss the tears away. "I love you, Emma."

"I love you, Regina."

"The rings?" The minister said quietly as he gestured towards August who stood just off to Emma's side. "Regina Mills, repeat after me…"

"Are you watching it again?" Regina asked as she sat down on the couch next to Emma in the dark living room, the only light coming from the TV and the copy of their wedding video. "My love, are you all right?"

"That was the happiest day of my life," Emma whispered. "The start of the rest of the happiest days of my life."

"I know, my love," Regina whispered softly. "I cannot believe it has been five years since we got married."

"Five years tomorrow," Emma smiled over at her and they both placed their hands on top of Emma's growing belly. "And in less than a week from now, we're going to meet our daughter."

"Have you decided on a name?" Regina asked as she moved to curl up at Emma's side.

"I thought we were going to do that together?" Emma sighed and she turned down the volume on the TV, but she didn't pause or stop the video of their wedding. "I—I don't know what to pick, Regina. I want to wait to meet her."

"Then we'll wait to meet her before we decide on her name."

"I can't believe she's almost here," Emma sighed as she ran her fingers through Regina's short, soft hair. "It feels like just yesterday when we—"

"I know."

Emma sighed as she watched the video play out on the screen, remembering even the parts that didn't make the cut for the video like it had all just happened yesterday. She turned her attention to her wife as Regina lifted up the hem of her oversized t-shirt to expose her stomach and she hummed softly when she felt Regina's soft fingertips stroke along her skin just below her navel.

It had been two years of trying, the first year of them learning the hard way that Regina was unable to have any children of her own and then another year of Emma trying to get pregnant from the anonymous donor they had spend hours handpicking out of hundreds off of a list. The second to last unsuccessful attempt had nearly put them off on trying to have a child together, but it had been Cora who convinced them to try one last time.

And there they were, nine months later, awaiting the arrival of their daughter and about to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary. A lot had happened over the years, especially after Regina had graduated and they made the move to Storybrooke, Maine to start the next chapter of their lives together. It had been a big adjustment for all of them, especially for Henry and for Nathan.

Henry had adjusted quickly, moved up ahead a grade that first year. Nathan woke up in the middle of the night for weeks, crying and asking to go home even though Emma and Regina had both explained to him that they were home. Even though he was three at the time, it took him almost a month before he understood that they weren't going back to the house in Florida.

Regina had settled into teaching the eighth grade at Storybrooke Elementary and Emma had taken odd jobs over the years, not just for weddings, but for other special occasions and even just shooting a family on a beautiful, sunny afternoon at the park just because the parents wanted lasting memories of their children that were growing up far too fast. August had followed them to Storybrooke, but he had moved back down to Tallahassee after a year with a strong drive to finish his first novel in years and one that had shot up the bestseller list within weeks of it being released. His story? It had been theirs. With a twist, of course.

They spent a lot of time—especially on weekends—with Cora in the condo she'd bought in Portland, a half hour drive from Storybrooke. To the boys, she was Grandma, and to Emma, she had over the years started calling her Mom—at Cora's surprising request. Regina had told her time and time again that her mother had changed almost from the moment she had first found out about their relationship, and that Regina's relationship with her mother had never been as strong as it had grown to be over the last five and a half years.

"Moms?" Henry called out tentatively and Emma turned to find him lingering in the living room doorway.

"Hey," Emma smiled and she hit stop on the remote before Regina reached out to flip the lamp on, one hand staying on her exposed belly and continuously rubbing over the skin just below her navel. "Isn't it past your bedtime, kid?"

"Yeah, but I couldn't sleep," he said quietly. "Can I come sit with you?"

"Just for a little while," Regina replied and Henry came into the living room and sat down next to Emma with a soft sigh. "Why can't you sleep, Henry?"

"I keep thinking about my baby sister," he said with a smile as he reached out to place a hand on top of Emma's stomach. "She's coming soon, isn't she?"

"Within the next week, we're hoping," Regina smiled at him. "Are you excited?"

"Yeah," Henry nodded and he curled into Emma's side. "What's her name?"

"We don't know yet."

"When will you know?"

"When we meet her for the first time, kid," Emma whispered and she placed a hand over his and smiled at him. "You got any suggestions?"

"I don't know," Henry mused and he rubbed over her belly slowly. "Whatever her name is, it has to be perfect, right?"

Emma smiled and leaned over to plant a kiss on top of his head. "Right. It'll be perfect, whatever her name ends up being," she whispered and she ruffled his hair. "Are you ever going to get a haircut, kid?"

"Mom," Henry groaned as he pulled away from her. "I like it like this. You know that."

"I like it too," Regina smiled, sticking a tongue out at Emma before she too reached out to ruffle Henry's hair. "I should go check on Nathan."

"He's asleep," Henry said. "I heard him snoring before I came down here."

"He's six," Emma said evenly. "He doesn't snore."

"He does so! I can hear him all the time! I can't ever sleep."

"Kid, you're about to have a baby sister," Emma reminded him. "Sleep is going to be a thing of the past."

"Can't you guys buy me some ear plugs or something?"

Emma laughed and shook her head. "You'll live through it, kid, just like we all will."

"Well, I need ear plugs for a whole other reason," Henry muttered as he pulled back from her. "You and Mom aren't as quiet as you guys like to think you are."

"Henry!" Emma gasped mockingly. "I'll have you know that we haven't—"

"I think it's time for you to go back to bed, dear," Regina said abruptly. "I think it's time for all of us to go to bed, wouldn't you say so, Emma?"

It was almost three hours later when Emma woke up in their bed with cramps in her lower abdomen. She turned over on her left side, her back to Regina and she tried to breathe quietly and steadily through the pain, pain that did subside after a few deep, controlled breaths as she rubbed over her stomach firmly.

But it just kept on coming in waves and not like it had in the past month. It was just past three in the morning when Regina woke up to the sounds of Emma's soft moaning as she tried to breathe through each of the contractions. Regina laid behind her, rubbing over her stomach as she placed soft kisses along her neck and shoulder.

For Emma, it was nothing like it had been like with Henry, but there were some similarities that she only began to realize when the contractions began to come quicker and each one sharper than the last. Regina was there, rubbing her stomach and helping her to breathe through each one, and by five that morning, she left the bed and got the boys up, called her mother and started packing a bag—something Emma had been putting off doing for the last two weeks despite the fact that Regina had made up an entire birth plan that they were supposed to be following.

By seven that morning, they were admitted into the hospital and Emma's contractions had subsided and the doctor, Dr. Whale, told her she was only just two centimeters dilated which meant she still had quite a way to go yet. Regina never left her side, right there with her through every contraction, there even when she managed to catch no less than an hour of sleep every once in a while. Even after ten hours after being admitted—and not the way either thought they'd be spending their fifth anniversary, Regina never once left Emma's side.

"Come on, my love, you got this," Regina whispered into her ear as she held on to one hand and rubbed over Emma's stomach with the other. "Breathe, Emma, breathe. It's almost time."

"I'm done," Emma gasped, trying not to hold on to Regina's hand too tightly as the contraction rippled through her, the worst of them yet. "Oh god, Regina, get this kid out of me!"

"Breathe," Regina whispered and she placed a kiss on Emma's cheek and then another just shy of her lips. "Dr. Whale is on his way now, my love. Not much longer now."

"Five—five years," Emma gasped out and she reached out for Regina, pulling her in as close as she could manage on the bed she was on. "Babe, it's been five years."

"Five amazing years," Regina smiled. "I love you, Emma."

"I love you," Emma whispered. "Get. This. Baby. Out. Of. Me!"

"She'll be here soon," Regina whispered and she placed a firm kiss on Emma's lips that lingered until Dr. Whale entered the room and cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Who is ready to have a baby?"

Emma glared. Regina just held her resolve and held on to Emma's hand tighter as the doctor and the two nurses prepped for the birth. Emma wasn't scared, she was anxious, and the pain wasn't even half as bad as it had been when she'd given birth to Henry on the front lawn ten years before.

Just after seven that evening, after almost twelve hours of being in the hospital and even longer than that in labor, Emma gave birth to a healthy baby girl with dark curly hair and a set of lungs. Throughout the first screams of their baby girl, Emma and Regina just clung to one another, both breathing heavily and basking in the very moment they'd been waiting years for.

"Mom? Will you do the honors?" Dr. Whale asked as he held out the scissors and Regina let go of Emma then, only just long enough to cut the umbilical cord before she was right back at Emma's side and kissing her over and over again.

"She is here," Regina whispered as they both listened to their baby girl cry and cry as the nurses rushed to clean her and weigh her. "She's here and she's healthy, Emma."

"She's a screamer."

"Just like her mother," Regina chuckled lowly.

"What is her name?" One of the nurses asked. "Moms?"

"Bailey," Regina whispered and Emma, despite the momentum of pain, gasped as she looked over at her wife. "Bailey Margaret Swan-Mills."

"That's perfect."

"She is perfect," Regina smiled. "She's ours."

"And she is…perfect," Emma gasped as a nurse placed her baby girl on her chest for the very first time. "Hello, Bailey."

Emma was fighting the fatigue, but she kept her eyes open just long enough for August to slip in and take those first few precious photographs before she succumbed to the exhaustion and the inevitable pull of sleep.

[X]

Regina woke up at three in the morning for the first month, feeding their daughter to let her wife sleep those few extra hours she so desperately needed. She woke up at seven every morning to get the boys ready for school, to give Emma that extra hour before she headed off to work, dropping the boys at the before school program they were enrolled in that gave her and Emma that little extra time for the baby and their own personal lives.

By the time Bailey hit the sixth month mark, and Nathan turned seven, Emma had bounced right back and was taking jobs left and right, nothing too significant, but ones that gave her the freedom of her own creativity that also brought in that extra bit of money by the end of the month.

Regina used the winter break to reel back and reflect on her life over just past the half a year since their daughter was born. She used that time off to be with her wife, to reconnect in ways they hadn't for years. Just days before the new year, they found out they could legally be married in Maine and planned to renew their vows that following spring and to have the big wedding they never had the first time around.

It was early the morning after the news came through and Regina stood in the study with Bailey on her hip, looking at the framed picture of the ocean with the single sunbeam shining through the grey clouds out over on the water. Bailey cooed as she reached out towards the picture and Regina smiled as she took the chubby hand in her own.

"Mama is so talented, isn't she?" She whispered into the soft dark curls and Bailey cooed again. "One day we'll take you there, to where Mama grew up and you'll see how beautiful it is with your very own eyes."

Bailey turned to bury her face into Regina's neck and she sighed as she ran a hand over the baby's back soothingly. She walked around the main floor, pausing to look at the dozens of pictures of their family that filled the walls. It looked so different than the home she'd grown up in and she knew it was because over the years, she and Emma had made it their own in little ways.

The Christmas tree had been set up in the den just off of the dining room and Regina sat down on the couch, shifting the baby until she laid comfortably in her arms. She could faintly smell the pot of coffee as it brewed in the kitchen and she sighed as she ran her fingers through Bailey's soft curls. She smiled when she heard the soft footsteps approaching from behind and then she turned to look up at her wife.

"Good morning," Emma smiled and she placed both cups of coffee down on the coffee table before bending down to kiss Bailey on the forehead and then Regina on the lips.

"Morning," Regina said softly. "I've already fed her. She was fussing when I got up to go to the bathroom so I just heated up a bottle for her."

"It's early."

"I know," she sighed and Emma sat down next to her. "My mother is coming to watch the kids tonight. I was hoping we could go out, just the two of us?"

"Date night?" Emma asked tiredly. "Can we have a date night where we just sleep and sleep and sleep?"

Regina laughed and shook her head lightly. "Are you really that tired, my love?"

"Little bit," Emma sighed. "Plus, we haven't…you know…"

"Made love?" Regina whispered and Emma nodded, frowning slightly. "Emma, you know that I have been nothing but patient in waiting for you to be ready. It is not as if we haven't been intimate at all."

"But I miss you," Emma said and she ran a hand over Regina's thigh. "I miss us."

"I love you," Regina said and she pulled Emma in for another kiss, one that lingered but didn't get too out of control, not with their baby sleeping in Regina's arms. "Let's put Bailey back to bed. I'm sure we can get an hour alone before the boys get up."

"You sure know how to seduce a woman, babe," Emma winked and she stood up from the couch before taking Bailey from Regina's arms. Regina grabbed the two cups of coffee and followed her wife upstairs, watching from the bedroom doorway as she put Bailey in her crib.

Emma reached out for the cup that Regina handed to her when she stepped out into the hallway and they checked on Nathan first and then Henry before they quietly retreated to their own bedroom. Regina placed her cup on the dresser, watching as Emma took one last sip of her coffee before placing it down next to hers.

Regina smiled as she wrapped her arms around her wife and brought their lips together in a slow yet passionate kiss. In the months since Emma had given birth to their daughter, Regina had never pushed for more than what Emma was ready for, understanding why she was so self-conscious about her body. Regina never failed to tell her every single day how beautiful she was, and she had meant it every time. They had been intimate in small ways, mostly kissing and cuddling in bed, and Regina had been fine with that, but that driving need to make love to her wife was becoming harder to bear, harder to hold back, harder and harder to wait for that very moment when she could ravish her wife just as she used to before.

Emma bit Regina's bottom lip playfully before she lifted her up into her arms with ease. They stared into one another's eyes as Emma carried her the few steps to the bed and slowly lowered her down, smiling as Regina wrapped her legs around Emma's hips and pulled her down on top of her.

Their intimacy had always been intense over the years, more so when they had the house to themselves and didn't need to hold back, to keep quiet. Their recent dry spell had been the longest they'd gone and Regina was so very ready for them to get back to the level of intimacy they were used to having in the bedroom. She didn't want to rush Emma, she didn't want to push her, and she let Emma take the lead despite the growing need that had her clit throbbing and aching for Emma's touch.

They kissed deeply, their hands wandering slowly, touching as if it were the very first time all over again. She thought back to the first time they had ever made love and it felt like a lifetime ago. She remembered the burning passion that had flowed between both of them as they explored each other's bodies intimately for the very first time. Just remembering how each new light caress of fingertips across skin had felt the first time had her arousal pooling in her pajama bottoms.

Emma's lips moved down across Regina's neck and she pulled back as she knelt between Regina's legs and smoothed her hands over her abdomen. Emma grinned as she deftly unbuttoned each button of her pajama top, revealing her body inch by inch. Regina ran her hands over Emma's thighs, stopping at edge of her boxer shorts each time. As Emma popped open the last button and the soft material slid open completely, she inhaled sharply before moving Regina's hands to the hem of the t-shirt she wore.

Regina took her time removing Emma's t-shirt and once it had been tossed to the floor, she swept her hands down Emma's abdomen lightly, her fingertips grazing over the visible stretch marks on her hips that continued down below the waistband of her boxers. Emma frowned slightly, but Regina didn't pull her hands back as she knew Emma wanted her to.

"You are so very beautiful, my love," she whispered. "Every inch of you."

"Regina…"

Regina smoothed her palms up to Emma's breasts, still fuller than they were before she'd gotten pregnant, and still tender as Emma exhaled sharply when her fingers circled over semi-erect nipples ever so lightly. With one hand, she reached up behind Emma's neck and pulled her back down, their lips crushing together almost instantly in a hungry kiss. Emma pressed her body hard down into Regina's, eliciting a moan past Regina's lips before she could stop it.

Emma gripped at Regina's left thigh as she rolled her hips down, kissing her hard and deep as their bodies moved together in an almost desperate need. Emma kissed down her neck, over her collarbone and down over her breasts, each kiss lingering upon her heated flesh. Regina moaned quietly as Emma's tongue teased over a hard nipple, flicking at it lightly before drawing it into her mouth to suck on her hard. Emma grinned as she pulled back, releasing Regina's hard nipple with a soft, audible pop.

"Emma," she murmured softly, watching as Emma's tongue dipped out and trailed a blazing path over her skin to her other breast. She threaded her fingers through Emma's hair as she teased her tongue over the other nipple and scraped her teeth along the sensitive bud before pulling it in between her lips.

Emma grasped at her right breast, gasping softly as she moved to lick over the hard nipple once more. With the tip of her tongue, she descended down the middle of Regina's abdomen, flicking her tongue at her navel as her hand followed the same path. Regina inhaled sharply as Emma's tongue teased over the skin just above her pajama pants and Emma tugged at the drawstring before rubbing a palm over her cunt firmly.

Together they moved up to the top of the bed and Emma continued to tease her, kissing along her lower abdomen while she rubbed her through the thin material of her pants. Regina's body quaked as her arousal heightened and Emma leaned back, kneeling between her legs as she tugged at the pants, pulling them off with ease before she leaned forward to capture Regina's lips in another heated and passionate kiss.

Emma gasped as her bare thigh pressed up against Regina's warm, wet cunt. "Fuck," she murmured against Regina's lips. "You are so wet."

"Hmm."

Emma kissed her harder as her hand slipped between Regina's thighs, her fingers sliding along her folds teasingly. Regina rolled her hips, wanting Emma to touch her more, wanting Emma to slide her fingers deep inside of her to sate her craving need for release. Emma pulled back from her lips, a teasing smile curling over her lips before she began to kiss down her body once more, her fingers teasing over her cunt and avoiding her throbbing clit completely.

Each kiss lingered, but not for long as Emma unhurriedly kissed her way down Regina's body. She smoothed her palms over the inside of Regina's thighs, opening her up wide as she licked the length of her wet cunt. Regina's hands went to Emma's head the moment Emma wrapped her lips around her clit and sucked hard, her tongue flicking against the hard bundle of nerves quickly. Regina threw her head back against the pillows as her body shook at the feel of Emma's mouth on her for the first time in many months. Her toes curled as she lifted her hips, wanting and needing so much more as her orgasm build quickly in her core.

Emma's hands gripped at her inner thighs as she slipped a tongue inside of her. She slipped a hand between her legs, opening her up wide as her tongue licked the length of her cunt, curling as it hit her clit and caused her whole body to twitch at the touch. Emma slipped a finger inside of her deftly as she moved to kiss along her inner thigh, nipping and sucking at the skin until Regina was squirming and moaning quietly with a hand over her mouth to keep from being too loud.

Emma's mouth moved back to her cunt, her tongue licking over her clit hard and fast as she pumped her finger inside of Regina's tight hole deeply. Regina bit at the back of her hand as her orgasm began to thunder through her body suddenly. Emma grinned as she slipped her finger out and licked it clean before she teasingly licked over her sensitive cunt, drawing out her orgasm and each lick caused her whole body to twitch at the touch.

She beckoned Emma back up to her and she smoothed her palms down Emma's back as their lips met in a wanton kiss. She grasped at Emma's ass before slipping her hands under the waistband of her boxers, her nails scrapping along Emma's skin before she grasped her again harder. Regina sat up slowly, kissing her way down Emma's breasts and down the length of her abdomen as she slipped her hands out from inside the boxers and tugged on the waistband, waiting for Emma to give her permission to remove them completely.

Emma gasped and stood up on shaky legs as Regina begin to tug them down her smooth legs and she stepped out of them, kicking them off to the side of the bed as Regina kissed along the top of her pubic bone. She could smell how aroused Emma was and she had to keep from ravishing her completely, knowing Emma needed her to take her time in that very moment. She smiled against Emma's warm skin before she pulled Emma down with her as she laid back on the bed.

To her surprise, Emma pulled her with her as she rolled on to her back and she grasped on to Regina's right wrist and guided it slowly between her legs. Regina kissed her hard and deep as her fingers slipped through Emma's soft curls, loving the way her fingers sunk into her wet cunt.

Regina slicked her fingers over Emma's clit slowly and she reluctantly pulled her hand away as she knelt between Emma's legs. She slipped off her unbuttoned pajama top and cast her eyes down on to her wife laid out naked before her. She licked over her lips salaciously, loving the sight of how gorgeous Emma looked in that very moment. To her, it didn't matter that Emma hadn't shaved her legs nor did it matter that Emma hadn't kept herself neatly groomed as she normally did. All that mattered to her was pleasing her wife for the first time in months.

Regina lifted Emma's left leg up and placed hot, lingering kisses along the inside of her knee. Each press of her lips moved higher up Emma's inner thigh until she moved to lay on her stomach and breathed in the musky arousal coming from between her wife's thighs. Regina licked over her lips before she parted Emma's cunt with her fingers and took the first taste she'd had of her in far too long.

"Regina!" Emma cried out as her hips nearly shot off the bed at the first touch of Regina's tongue against her cunt. "Oh fuck!"

Taking her time to reacquaint herself with her wife, she licked over her slit slowly, drinking in Emma's arousal greedily. She flicked her tongue against Emma's clit before wrapping her lips around it to suck her hard. She inhaled sharply, the smell of Emma's arousal heightened by the mass of light brown curls that covered her sex, and it only made her mouth water and left her wanting to taste her even more.

"Regina," Emma gasped as she ran her fingers through Regina's hair. "Regina?"

"Hmm?"

"Oh god," Emma moaned loudly as Regina slipped her tongue inside her quivering, hot hole. "Baby, your tongue feels fucking amazing."

"And you taste fucking exquisite, my love," she husked as she pulled back to catch her breath. She licked over her lips and looked up at her wife momentarily before she flicked her gaze back down to her wife's cunt and she slicked her fingers over her slippery, swollen clit, loving the soft squeals that escaped past Emma's lips at the touch.

"Babe, come here," Emma murmured as she tried to grasp at Regina's shoulders and arms, but Regina held her position and teasingly licked over her slit and caused Emma's hips to jerk against the bed. "Babe, come here, please?"

"I want to—"

"I'm so close," she whispered. "I need to kiss you."

"Hmm?" Regina moaned as she took one last lick of Emma's cunt before she gave in and crawled up her body. "You need to kiss me, hmm?"

"I need to feel you close," Emma said and she playfully nipped at Regina's wet lips as they molded their bodies together. Regina pressed her thigh hard against Emma's center and kissed her hard and deep to swallow the moan that slipped past Emma's lips.

They rocked together, slowly at first as they kissed passionately, hands grasping at one another tightly until Emma's hips began to move faster and she thrust her own thigh harder between Regina's legs as her hands moved down to grab at Regina's hips tightly. Regina could feel a second orgasm building quickly and she moved with Emma, their thrusts timed and in perfect synchrony with one another. Emma came undone first, moaning into Regina's mouth as her short nails dug into the skin of Regina's hips.

Emma flipped her over on to her back and Regina panted hard as they parted from the kiss and Emma spread her legs wide as she settled down on top of her. She gripped on to her left thigh while holding herself up with her other hand and she thrust her cunt hard against Regina's while staring down intensely into Regina's eyes. Regina's cunt was throbbing with delicious pleasure in the moments before her orgasm hit and she pulled Emma down for a deep kiss to quiet her moans as she came undone completely.

Regina held her close as they laid there together, basking in the moment and both knowing it wouldn't last for much longer as one of the kids would surely wake up at any given moment. Regina stroked her fingers along Emma's spine and smiled, her body sated and her mind, her heart, content.

"Hmm," Emma murmured as she kissed along Regina's collarbone slowly. "I love you."

"I love you," Regina whispered back. "I love you so very much."

"Thank you," Emma said as she lifted her head. "Thank you for being so very patient with me. I have missed this."

"You know that I would wait forever for you, my love," Regina smiled as she lightly ran her fingers through Emma's hair. "I would because you are so very worth it."

"How did I get so lucky?" Emma asked for what might as well have been the millionth time she'd asked that very question over the years. "How did I get so lucky to deserve someone as amazing as you?"

Regina kissed her again, holding on to the moment for as long as she could before the sound of their daughter crying in her crib caused them to pull apart. She kissed Emma on the forehead before rolling Emma over on to her back. She whispered for her to go back to sleep before she slipped out of bed and pulled her pajama's on quickly.

She walked to their daughter's room quietly and nudged open the door, shushing the baby as she leaned over the crib to pick her up. She smiled as she rocked Bailey in her arms, instantly soothing her cries as only a mother could.

Regina had never felt more complete in her whole life. She had a family of her own, a loving wife who had been such a deep part of her life even long before they'd fallen in love with one another. They had travelled along a road, a long winding road full of hardships to get to where they were now, but every moment had been worth it, together and on their own, because it led them to where they were now.

This was her happily ever after. And she would forever chase those sunbeams if they led her to her wife and their family. Forever.

The End

I want to take a moment to thank Caryn, because she has always been my best cheerleader, my best critic, and the one who kicks me ass into believing in the story I write always. I want to thank my Big Bang cheerleader Alex, who I made a friend in as well as having someone who thoroughly enjoyed this little (big!) tale of mine. I also want to thank Val (lanoyee) for making art for this story! I am simply in love love love love with it, so thank you so very much!

It's hard to believe that this story came to me one morning on my way home from work on the bus, riding past the lake I live by on a cloudy day and being inspired for this by a single lone sunbeam breaking out of the clouds and shining down and then only moments later to be hit, literally, in the face by a paper flower since it was a very windy day that morning, hence the title that just stuck throughout the whole process of writing this story. I wrote almost 20K that day, along with a rough outline, and I fell in love with the idea of this story that day as well. It became a labour of love, one that took me through NaNoWriMo, surpassing that goal by writing almost double the goal in that month alone.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and hope that you could care to take a moment or two to let me know what you thought of it. It would mean the world to me and would definitely brighten my day :)