A/N: This is an idea that wouldn't leave me alone based on this gifset post/59072970730/vargesz-regina-is-trying-to-help- emma-with

Thank you to vargesz for granting me permission to use their idea for this story! Hope you all enjoy, reviews are always immensely appreciated!

"Ms Swan," Regina snapped, not for the first time that day. "You could – at the very least – pretend that you are trying."

Emma growled.

"I am trying, Regina! Do you think I'm just hanging out in the middle of the woods for the great pleasure of your company?"

Maybe this had been a bad idea, Emma thought. She'd had two choices for instructors in magic: Rumplestiltskin or The Evil Queen. While the former was certainly the more seasoned practitioner of the two, Emma still found him to be a man of shady morals and questionable motives. If she was going to trust someone out here alone, it was going to be the woman whose interests were aligned with her own. She'd only hoped, as she often did, that maybe this time they wouldn't be at each other's throats.

"Well, dear, the sooner you get this right, the sooner we can part ways."

"We're going back to a ship, Regina," Emma rolled her eyes. "It's not like we can really get away from each other."

"Focus," Regina ignored Emma's comment, not wishing to dwell on the lack of personal space or distance from this woman that their current residence provided. Never in her extraordinarily long life had anything felt so utterly inescapable to her as Emma Swan.

"Now, once again, this is not a complicated concept. You disappear from here, you reappear over there. Just remember to concentrate on where you are going. Surely, even you can manage that?"

Resisting several instinctual responses to Regina's blatant condescension, Emma grit her teeth, shooting a murderous glare in the other woman's direction before turning her attention to her designated destination. She damn well could manage this, and she was determined to show the insufferable woman beside her as much.

Just as she was about to be on her way, a hand appeared on her shoulder.

"The gods only know where you'll actually end up," Regina explained at Emma's questioning glance. "But I do know who would take the fall if you failed to return. I will not be held accountable for your ineptitude."

Emma's anger flared at yet another jab to her intelligence. She would show her. She would show Regina she was wrong.

She didn't understand why this woman had to be so mean. Even as she summoned up her magic, Emma wished she didn't feel this need to prove herself. She wished that for once, neither of them was trying to win. As a purple cloud engulfed them both, she quietly wished they lived in a world where she and Regina could get along.

"Hang on – just for a little bit longer, Sweetheart."

Emma heard Regina's voice, but it was far away, and the hand whose grip tightened on her shoulder at the sound told her without question that something had gone horribly wrong.

The smoke quickly cleared to reveal an enraged Regina, standing in the hallway of the Storybrooke hospital, of all places. Before she could even open her mouth to chastise her student for losing concentration so severely, a pained cry rang out, stealing the attention of both women.

Emma turned, immediately forgetting her faux pax at what she saw, drifting in a daze towards the scene before them with Regina close behind.

The anguished sound had come from her – another her, another Emma. An Emma whose circumstances were all too recognizable for this Emma. She had not forgotten the pain of being in labor. Yet, it was the things that were so very different that struck her the most; namely the fact that the woman who was holding this other Emma's hand, who was lovingly smoothing her hair and calling her "Sweetheart," was, in fact, another Regina.

She barely had time to process that much before someone was commanding the other Emma to give them one more big push, just one more, and then all at once the sound of her pained groans was replaced by the tiny wailing of the infant.

"You did it," the other Regina gasped in reverent awe.

The two women watched in silence from the hall as the other Regina cut the cord, the baby then wrapped in a pale blue blanket and carefully placed back into the other Emma's arms.

Emma nearly lost her breath, longingly watching her other self staring at the child she cradled, and she knew, she just knew what that Emma was thinking.

She was thinking that this time, she didn't have to say goodbye. This time, hello didn't feel like the end. It didn't feel like she had cut out a piece of her soul and given it away, because this time, this baby was hers to keep. She didn't have to say goodbye.

"Another boy," she heard the other Emma whisper.

"I love you," the other Regina said with such conviction that, despite all they'd seen, it startled both women looking on.

"And I love you," Emma's other self replied with equal honesty, and Emma realized it wasn't that this baby was going home with her. He was going home with them. To an actual home, with a family who already loves him, and who loves each other. Even if she had kept Henry, she would have had to do it alone. In this world, she had someone. She had Regina.

The whole thing suddenly made her heart ache. She wanted this. They would find Henry in Neverland, she was certain of that. She wished, though, that she could bring him back to this world, to a happy home and a growing family. She peered at the woman by her side, her Regina – for lack of a better term, in this moment – and wondered if maybe, just maybe, it was possible they could create this world for themselves.

Regina was shocked by the whole scene, and more than a little bit frightened, awestruck by the idea that she could find love again. That someone actually could love her, and that it was Emma Swan, of all people. The idea of having a family, of knowing that the birth of this child meant that their other son was waiting for them, safe at home, no longer at odds, no longer torn between two mothers, but now a part of one loving whole.

She shook her head. Whatever path it was that had brought these other versions of themselves to this point, Regina was certain she had diverged from it long ago. There was nothing to be gained in wishing or wondering what could be or could have been. She had set them on a different course, and it did not end in their shared 'happily ever after'.

"Come along, Ms Swan," Regina said quietly, grasping Emma's hand much more tenderly than she realized. "It's time to go. We don't belong here."

With a final yearning glance, trying to soak up as much of the joy and the love as she could, Emma nodded and turned away. A wave of Regina's hand, and they found themselves back in the small clearing in which they'd begun.

They stood in stunned silence, both trying to comprehend not only what they had seen, but the emotions ignited and desires made so vivid by the experience. Regina told herself the feelings would fade, they were just a side effect of sorts. Still, it was a long moment before she delicately untangled their fingers. Emma, finding her palm suddenly emptier than she liked, slid her hand into the pocket of her jeans.

"Who would have thought, huh?" Emma chuckled awkwardly, trying to break the tension. "You and me?"

"It's absurd," Regina replied with a cold mask.

Emma's brow furrowed.

"What's so 'absurd' about it?"

"Ms Swan, if you think the notion of you and I as a couple is anything short of madness, then surely you are mad yourself."

This time, Emma caught the subtle edge of panic in the other woman's voice. Regina wouldn't admit it, that what they'd seen could be something real, but Emma couldn't let go of what she'd felt.

"Well," she stepped in closer, gently cradling the face of a terrified Regina. Emma leaned in slowly, then kissed her softly, sweetly, knowing for certain that this was right by the way her entire body tingled at the touch. She kept it brief, not wanting to frighten off the already rattled woman. She smiled shyly as she pulled back, shrugging in response to Regina's look of pure confusion.

"If you ever change your mind," Emma offered by way of explanation, just before disappearing in a cloud of purple smoke; successful at last, yet missing the way Regina's fingers came up to trace her faintly smiling lips.

18 months later

"I hate you," Regina growled.

"No, you don't," Emma replied calmly.

"I thought it was supposed to be you in this position," Regina grumbled, not willing to admit that Emma was right. "That's what we saw!"

"Hey, I don't make the rules of magical conception," Emma said, placing a hand on Regina's rounded belly. "Besides, in that world we had a baby boy, so clearly this is an entirely different scenario."

Another contraction hit and Regina choked the fingers of the hand held in hers, groaning mournfully as it subsided.

"I know," Emma said sympathetically. "You hate me."

Regina tiredly shook her head, bringing Emma's abused fingers up to her lips and kissing them apologetically.

"I don't hate you," she whimpered. "I hate being in labor."

"It will all be worth it," Emma promised. "Just hang in there a bit longer."

Emma didn't know how right she was, because the next time the doctor came in to check on them, it was time for Regina to push. After only a few more minutes, and a few more battered fingers for Emma, the cries of their newborn baby filled the room.

"You did it!" Emma praised, teary eyed as she placed a quick yet passionate kiss on the other woman's lips. Regina stared in wonderment at the tiny little girl on her chest, smaller even than Henry when she first held him at three weeks old.

Emma cut the cord, the baby then wrapped tightly in a light pink blanket and returned to Regina, who continued to stare at her adoringly.

"We have a daughter," Regina said, as though she still couldn't quite believe it. Emma grinned broadly in response, sitting down on the bed and cuddling close as she rested her head against Regina's and stroked the baby's cheek.

"I love you, Regina."

"I love you, too, Emma."

All roads lead to Rome, Regina thought. Looking at this woman she loved, at the little girl they made together, thinking of their son who was safely back in their care and would be coming to meet his baby sister soon, she just knew. No matter what path they chose, they were always going to end up here. They may have taken the longer way around, but this is exactly where they were meant to be.