A/N: This is the last chapter. I've had a lot of fun writing this story, and I hope that you've enjoyed it. Thank you for reading and for all your support.

It takes a minor melt down on Emma's part for Regina to even think about the idea of marriage.

"Do you think you could manage to not leave every single one of our coffee mugs on the kitchen counter," Regina asks lightly one afternoon when she gets home to find Emma sitting in the kitchen, sipping coffee from one mug and surrounded by three other empty cups.

"I'm sorry I'm not keeping your house up to its normal standards of cleanliness." It's harsh and loud and followed immediately by Emma getting up from where she is sitting next to Henry to slam her current mug down in the sink.

Regina is taken aback. She chides Emma all the time for her messiness. "I rather think you're overreacting."

"You do, do you?" Emma asks, her voice icy and mean.

Henry watches as Regina stiffens, and he wonders if she's about to start yelling as well. But she takes a deep breath and calms herself. "I don't know what's wrong Emma, but I am not going to get into a ridiculous argument about coffee cups."

"Fine. I have to go to the station anyway." In no time at all, she's out of the house.

Regina and Henry share a confused look. "I'll be right back," Regina tells her son before following her girlfriend out of the house.

"Emma!" The blonde freezes with her hand on the door to her car. "What's going on?"

"Nothing Regina," she says through gritted teeth.

Regina can tell that Emma is nowhere near ready to talk about whatever it is. "Ok." Regina understands bitchiness as a default mode, but this is something that she's rarely seen from Emma. "I'll see you tonight."

"I probably won't be home for dinner," Emma adds, even though they both know that Emma will be done with work in plenty of time for dinner.

Emma's pushing, but Regina isn't taking the bait. She's been with Emma for a year now, and she knows enough to wait it out. "I love you," Regina says, uncertain whether the words will reassure or upset Emma further.

"Me too," Emma mutters as she turns away from Regina and gets into her car.

Regina wraps her arms around herself as she watches her girlfriend's car disappear down the road. She isn't sure what caused that little melt down, but it isn't the first that Emma's had since they've been together. There are a lot of bad things that can be said about Regina, but she knows that one of her strengths is that she will always fight for the people she loves. Emma can push all she wants; Regina isn't going anywhere.

Regina walks back into the house to find Henry sitting where she left him visibly upset. "What's wrong with Emma?"

"I'm not sure sweetie," Regina says sitting down next to Henry. "She'll be ok, though. Don't worry."

But Henry's frown only grows. "What is it?" Regina asks.

He struggles to say the words. "I don't want Emma to leave."

"Emma's not going anywhere. She loves you, Henry. We both love you very much."

Henry offers her a smile. "I love you too." They've become a family that says I love you all the time. Before bed. Before Henry gets on the bus for school. Just because.

"I don't want Emma to leave us," Henry whispers.

"What's making you worried about Emma leaving?"

He shrugs. "I brought her here, and she kept wanting to leave, and I made her stay."

"I very much doubt anyone could make Emma do something she didn't want to do."

"But she yelled at me yesterday, and today she was upset too."

Regina puts her hand on her son's back. "Being in a bad mood doesn't mean Emma's going anywhere. You've seen me in a bad mood enough times to know that."

"That's different. You're my mom." He looks upset the minute the words are out of his mouth. He feels guilty for all the times he told her the opposite. And he feels guilty for implying now that Emma isn't his mom too. Because he loves them both a whole lot.

He knows Regina wouldn't leave – even if he wanted her to. He's pushed her away enough to test that one out. Emma, though, he's still unsure about.

Not too long ago Regina would have been overjoyed that Henry was doubting his relationship with Emma, but now all Regina wants is to help strengthen Henry's bond with his other mother. The last year has been kind to Regina. She's in a good place with Henry now, and the jealously she had felt of Emma isn't there anymore. Henry's birthmother no longer feels like a threat. She's family now.

"Emma's your mom too," Regina tells Henry. "And she loves you, so you don't have to worry. Whatever Emma is upset about, I promise it has nothing to do with you." She reaches out and strokes Henry's hair. "I'll talk to Emma later and make sure that she's alright. I don't want you to worry though, ok?"

Henry nods and tries to look less anxious. Regina wishes she could soothe his fears, but she doesn't know how to convince him that Emma isn't going to run. "What do you say we go riding this afternoon?" Regina suggests. At least she can try to take Henry's mind off his worries.

"Yeah, cool," he says, surprised that his mom is suggesting riding on a school day before he's done his homework.

"Let's go get ready," Regina says, wrapping her arm around her son as they make their way up the stairs.

It had taken longer than usual for Henry to fall asleep. Regina had lain down with Henry; something that he rarely asks her to do now that he's a mature 11 year-old. She had stroked his hair and sung to him; all the while worrying herself about what exactly was going on with Emma.

By the time the blonde arrives home, Henry is asleep. Regina extricates herself from Henry, who is lying with his head on her chest. With a glance back at her son and a promise to make everything right for him, she shuts his door and goes to her bedroom.

Emma is already curled up in bed, her back facing Regina's side of the bed, her boots and jeans kicked off on the floor. Regina sits down next to her girlfriend, who makes no move to acknowledge the brunette's presence. "Emma," Regina sighs. "What can I do?"

No response. "If it were just the two of us, I would tell you to take all the time in the world until you're ready to talk to me. But Henry is quite worried, so sometime tonight or tomorrow morning before he wakes up we are going to have to talk about what's going on with you."

Still nothing. And it is incredibly frustrating. Then Regina notices Emma's back shaking; she's crying. "Oh Emma," Regina whispers. She hears a few soft gasps as Emma tries to hold back the tears. "I'm going to hold you, ok?" Regina receives no objection, so she lies down and slowly wraps her arms around Emma, spooning the blonde tightly.

Regina lays her hands over Emma's, intertwining their fingers, and places a kiss to the crook of Emma's neck. They lie like that for a long time until Emma finally stops crying and turns around in her girlfriend's arms. Regina lifts one hand to smooth back the hair stuck to tear streaked cheeks. "I'm sorry about this afternoon," Emma whispers.

"Can you tell me what's wrong?" Regina asks, her hand cradling Emma's cheek.

"Today is a bad day for me. It's the anniversary of when my first foster family brought me back to the group home."

Regina wishes that Emma had told her so that she could have helped her girlfriend through the day. But Regina understands pain that hurts too much to put words to. "I'm sorry, dear," Regina says, stroking her hand along Emma's cheek. Regina swallows back her guilt about what Emma's been through; this isn't about her. "Is there anything I can do to make tonight easier for you?"

"Just don't leave me, ok?" Emma says finally letting out the words she's desperately wanted to say.

"Never," Regina promises. "I love you."

"I love you too, Regina. And I know that I don't make it easy, but I need you to stay."

Regina's heart aches. "Oh Emma, you make it so easy to love you. I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

Emma simply nods and then buries her face in Regina's chest. She falls asleep there with comforting arms wrapped around her.

Sleep doesn't come to Regina for a long time. She stays awake thinking about Emma and Henry. It's the first time Regina thinks about marriage. She wonders whether making things official would do anything to ease their fears.

The mere thought of being married again makes Regina feel nauseous. She had vowed to never let anyone control her again after she killed Leopold. She knows that it's ridiculous, because Emma would never hurt her or try to take control away from Regina. But still the idea of marriage only adds to the uneasiness the day has left in Regina. She stares at the bright moon out the window while she cradles the woman she loves.

It takes a month of planning and a moment of spontaneity for Regina to pop the question.

Regina and Archie devote four whole sessions to talking about it. Marriage. Adoption. Family.

The first two sessions are 45 minutes of Regina rambling about her fears and her hopes. She introduces the topic safely. Mentions that she is considering asking Emma to marry her, maybe even to adopt Henry. She wants to do what's best for them. She asks Archie whether he thinks it would be good for Henry and Emma.

But Regina is far from the difficult patient she had been in those early days, and when Archie asks how she feels about all this, Regina barely stops talking until the session is over. Their next meeting is much the same. She wants this so badly, and yet it terrifies her. She's afraid to give Emma legal rights to Henry – still scared deep down that Emma will take her son from her – that Henry will love Emma more than her. She feels guilty for thinking these things, but the doubts bounce in her head nonetheless, and she is rather thankful for Archie's help sorting through it all.

Regina talks about how much she wants to be with Emma forever. How the thought of losing Emma keeps Regina up some nights; how she doesn't know if she would survive losing her lover. But marriage is terrifying. It dredges up memories that Regina had buried so long ago. A wedding dress. A ceremony. A wedding night. They are all things that fill Regina with a sense of sorrow and a feeling of powerlessness that are hard to shake. She and Archie talk about separating what her first marriage had been from what a marriage to Emma could be. They talk about separating in her mind a time when she had felt like a prisoner, from now, when she has worked so hard to be free, to control her own life and her own actions. A marriage to Emma, Archie suggests, if Regina wants it, could be an affirmation of Regina's ability to be an equal partner, to love and be happy.

They leave it like that at the end of their second session discussing marriage. Regina walks in the next week, sits down, and announces that she bought a ring. She's not ready yet, but she is going to ask. Archie makes sure to discuss how Regina will talk to Emma about what she needs from a wedding: no white dress, no big deal about it being their wedding night, no gin – the smell still reminds her of her former husband. Just Regina and Emma promising to be a family. Archie encourages Regina to really talk to Emma. To not walk on eggshells making sure that Emma won't run away. They both need to talk if they're going to do this.

The forth week Regina spends a lot of her session asking Archie his opinion of different romantic ways to pop the question. The therapist knows that Regina is still trying to come to terms with all her feelings before she is truly ready to ask. This week she seems particularly afraid that Emma will say no. She's trying to be ok with that too. As long as they're together.

When Regina leaves Archie's office he is fairly certain that they will be having a similar conversation at their next session. He's rather pleasantly surprised to see her the next week wearing a ring instead.

"He's out like a light," Regina says when Emma glances over at where Henry is lying on the couch cattycorner to the one she and Regina are sitting on. "He's been asleep for at least the last half hour."

"And you made me sit through the end of the movie anyway?"

"The Princess Bride is a classic."

"I'm surprised you like it," Emma says. "I would have thought you wouldn't be a fan of anything remotely like a fairytale."

"Henry always loved the movie when he was little."

"And you just couldn't say no to him." Emma smiles at Regina; she loves that her girlfriend is such a good mother to their son.

"Indeed," Regina agrees.

"I'm going to go carry the kid upstairs."

Regina watches as Emma picks up their son. Henry wraps himself around Emma, cuddling against her in his sleep. He trusts her. He loves her. Regina has watched Emma truly become Henry's mother this year. She's watched Emma trust herself to love him, to take care of him. She's a good mother, and she makes Regina a better mother too.

Regina realizes as she watches Emma carry Henry up the stairs that they are already a family. A wedding won't change anything. It would be Emma and Regina promising to be exactly what they are now – forever. And Regina wants that. Not just to give Emma and Henry security, but for herself too. She wants to tell the world that she and Emma are family and that they always will be.

Regina walks into the laundry room where she has a small velvet box stashed behind bottles of laundry detergent. She picks up the box, smiling to herself, and slips the ring into her pocket.

"Where'd you go?" Emma calls.

"Right here, dear." Regina reenters the living room. "He didn't wake up?"

"Nope. We have the night to ourselves."

"How about I pour us some wine," Regina says. She turns from Emma and walks into the kitchen trying to find the right words to say. Regina reaches for the wine glasses and picks a bottle of her favorite pinot noir. She slowly fills the glasses, corks the bottle, and returns to the living room. By the time she has slipped a glass into Emma's hands, Regina feels ready.

"There's something I want to talk to you about."

"What?" Emma asks, setting her glass down on the coaster Regina always insists on.

"I love you so much, Emma. You've shown me happiness that I didn't know existed, and all I want is to do the same for you. I want forever with you. I want us to be a family – you and me and Henry. I know that we haven't talked about marriage before, and I understand if it's something that you don't want or you aren't ready for. But I love you, and I want to marry you. So if you want to – whenever you want to – I want to call you my wife."

Regina watches as Emma's eyes become comically big. "Is this a proposal?" Emma asks, a grin spreading across her face.

"Well, yes dear."

"And why aren't you down on one knee?"

Regina laughs, and no matter what happens tonight it doesn't matter because she is going to spend her life with this woman. "I suppose I thought you might want to talk about it first. I didn't want to put you on the spot if marriage isn't something you want."

"We can talk after you do this right," Emma says. Her heart is thumping in her chest, and she is damn well terrified. But she wants this perfect moment unencumbered by her own insecurities or Regina's allowances for them. Emma can freak out later. They can discuss everything later. Right now she wants this memory they can tell their grandkids about.

Regina gets off the couch and kneels down in front of Emma, pulling the ring from her pocket. "I love you, and I want to spend my whole life with you. Emma Swan, will you marry me?"

"Yes!" Emma says, certain she has never felt so damn much in her whole life. She is scared, there's no denying that. But she also loves Regina more than anything she ever thought possible. And the fact that the woman she loves wants to be with her forever is everything Emma could ask for. She pulls Regina into her arms for a kiss. "Yes, yes, yes."

They are married at city hall three days later. They agree to have a celebration soon with Emma's family and most of the town in attendance. But for their wedding – for this intimate moment where they are both taking a leap that they never thought they would take – where they are both giving something that they didn't realize they had within themselves to give – they want it to just be them and Henry.

They don't write vows to say at the ceremony. They are private people, and the whispered words of love that they say to each other in the safety of their bedroom are all they need to know that this day is about true love.

"Do you, Emma Swan, take Regina Mills to be your wife?"

Emma looks at Regina, at a smile that has never seemed more genuine, at eyes that sparkle with life and hope and joy.

"I do." Emma never thought she would cry today, but she stares at Regina and promises to be her wife, and the tears come.

"Do you, Regina Mills, take Emma Swan to be your wife?"

"I do," Regina says, sounding more sure than Emma has ever heard her sound. Regina wants nothing more than to be Emma's wife. It only makes the blonde cry harder.

Henry holds out their rings, and they slip simple rose-colored gold bands onto each other's fingers.

"By the power vested in me by the state of Maine, I now pronounce you married."

The kiss contains all the promises they need – of forever and family and love and partnership and happiness. Henry throws his arms around his mothers.

They hold tight to each other.