Holy chicken fingers, I am so, so sorry that this took ages again! I planned to finish it in three days, but then life happened, and I couldn't. Hope you're still interested, and it wasn't too horrible after that last evil cliffhanger. Thank you so much for all the feedback I got, it means the world to me, and please enjoy this chapter. There's five more chapters after this and then we're done. Thanks for reading. xx

Emma could hear the blood rushing in her ears, her heart pounding in her chest.

This was wrong; it was all so goddamn wrong.

Regina wasn't saying anything either, and that was definitely a bad sign. All her walls were down, though, lying to her feet in a crumbled mess, and she looked hurt, so hurt, which didn't make any sense, because she didn't love Emma anyway, so she should be happy, and relieved, and not as incredibly sad as she appeared to be.

Emma wasn't really sure if the unshed tears she thought she was seeing in the other woman's eyes were actually just here own, maybe they were both close to crying, maybe this was the last straw, and the sheriff had completely fucked up once and for all.

Suddenly, she was unbelievably scared; she didn't want to lose Regina.

Because Regina was important. Because Regina was her partner in crime, and her friend, and most probably the love of her life. Because they were "Team Moms," and they had stopped a weird unstoppable trigger diamond, and moved the moon.

"No, Regina, I'm sorry, I... God, why is this so hard?"

The sheriff let out an exhausted groan, and rubbed a hand over her face.

It took a few moments for the other woman to reply.

"You don't have to apologize. I was an idiot for assuming you could actually return my feelings in the first place," she almost whispered, eventually, head turned to the side.

"I swear to God, Regina, I did no—wait, what? Return your feelings?"

Emma just gaped at the brunette, who looked up then, eyes big and shiny.

"Yes. The giant fool I am, somewhere along the way, I fell in love with you. But just forget abo—"

Before she could finish the sentence, the sheriff lunged forward and pressed her lips onto Regina's.

The kiss was desperate, like when you were drowning, and finally came up to gasp for air; like being on fire, burning up inside and out.

For a horrible second, however, Regina didn't respond, didn't reciprocate, but also didn't pull away. She was just frozen into place.

Maybe Emma had misheard, made it all up in her head. Regina had actually rejected her, and now she was forcing herself on the other woman regardless, because she was a huge idiot.

But then Regina kissed back, all tongue, and teeth, and it felt so wonderful, the blonde wanted to cry.

"I love you, too. I love you," she breathlessly panted between kisses, because she still couldn't believe this was actually happening.

Apparently, neither could Regina.

"Really?"

The brunette looked downright shocked about this revelation.

"God, Regina, yes! I wanted to tell you for ages, but... I was so fucking afraid you were going to reject me, and everything would go to shit again."

Emma gave her a sheepish grin, because, saying it out loud, her lame excuse sounded even more ridiculous than it had in her head.

"You are an idiot," Regina declared, and the blonde couldn't even disagree, because she really, really was.

"Yeah, I know."

Instead of rubbing it in, however, the other woman just shrugged.

"But I am, too, apparently, so I guess we make a good match."

Regina smiled at her. One of the big smiles, the sincere ones, all crinkly eyes and dimples, and Emma kissed her again.

"So... what now?"

"Now," Regina pressed her lips to the sheriff's once more, "We go to sleep, just like we always do, and then tomorrow morning we wake up, have breakfast in bed, you kiss me some more, and then we should to talk to our son about this... new development, I suppose."

"Oh please, he already knows," Emma laughed, absentmindedly running her fingertips over the other woman's ever growing baby bump.

"What?"

Regina looked mildly alarmed.

"He basically kicked my ass a few days back, because, the smart little shit he is, he figured out I was in love with you before I even actually did."

"He is my son after all," the brunette noted, smile somewhere between proud and downright smug.

Of course, the sheriff accepted the challenge.

"Well, he may have your brains, but, more importantly, he has my staggeringly good looks."

Regina just laughed (which was absolutely adorable).

"Big feet and puppy dog eyes?"

They both laughed, Emma's fingers grazing Regina's arm, and it was ridiculous how easy this was all of a sudden.

It felt so natural, it should scare the living shit out of her, but for some reason it simply didn't.

Instead, it just seemed... right.

"I hate you," Emma grumbled, but failed to keep the smile off of her face.

"No, you don't."

"No, I really don't," the blonde agreed, and pecked the other woman on the lips once more, before she laid back onto the bed, and pulled her close, lips resting against dark hair.

"Wow, who would've thought the Evil Queen and the brave little orphan Savior would be so lovey-dovey one day. And with each other no less."

"Shut up and kiss me," Regina laughed, and Emma did just that.

Easing into their new relationship was actually smoother than any of them would have thought; because nothing changed, really.

Emma still took care of Regina, they still bantered, they still slept in the same bed, they still spent family time with Henry.

He, of course, had just given them a duh look, and muttered something that sounded a lot like "finally," when they had told him a few days back (but had given them an extra long hug later that day, saying he loved them).

During the latest extended family dinner with Snow, David, and baby Neal (one of the few occasions Emma had actually allowed Regina to leave what was now their bed to sit at the table with all of them instead), they hadn't exactly said anything about their new relationship status, but, also, they had done nothing to try and hide the fact that they had finally sorted out their issues.

Her father had just given her a knowing smile when Emma had, at some point during dinner, placed one arm around the back of the mayor's chair, hand on her shoulder, rubbing what she hoped were calming circles with her thumb; and Snow had suddenly hugged her half to death when they'd been in the kitchen together to get dessert—later, Regina had told the blonde that, much like David had done with her, Snow had talked some sense into the mayor on the day they had finally acknowledged their feelings for each other.

Currently, Emma and Regina were in what had once been one of the guest bedrooms—which hadn't ever been used, anyway, because in all her almost thirty years in Storybrooke, not once had Regina had anyone stay the night (except for Emma, of course).

With her farther's help, the sheriff had carried most of the old furniture into the mansion's basement a few days earlier to make room for all the baby stuff she and her girlfriend had ordered online.

So now, while Regina was sitting in an armchair, legs up on a stool—because Emma was still crazy worried that something might happen to the older woman (or the baby, for that matter)—the blonde herself was kneeling on the floor, trying to assemble what was supposed to be the baby's bed, but she wasn't overly successful with that, to be honest.

Regina, however, seemed quite amused by Emma's by now borderline desperate attempt to build something that even remotely resembled a piece of furniture.

"You still don't know how to do it, do you?" she assessed more than asked, and Emma was reminded of being crouched on the floor of the loft with David, working on Neal's crib several months back.

Even back then, when they had still been on somewhat uncertain terms in regard to what exactly they were to each other, the mayor had been family, just being around as if she'd always been, as if she belonged. Well, maybe she had, in a sense, or at least she should have.

With all the history with Snow and David, the connection to Emma herself, and of course considering the fact that she was Henry's mother, she deserved to be considered family. Plus, she had saved all of their asses over and over again without getting any credit for that whatsoever.

"I'm fine, thank you very much," the blonde muttered, while she almost accidentally hit herself in the face with one of the wooden pieces she had picked up. Smooth, Swan.

"You're reading the instructions upside-down," Regina deadpanned then, not even looking up from the latest issue of Fit Pregnancy she was reading, and, instead, just arching an eyebrow over the cover.

Emma's head snapped down to the piece of paper in front of her on the floor, cheeks red with embarrassment.

Oh, come on!

She could fix cars, had slain a goddamn dragon, and was a Lego architecture mastermind (not that Neal cared a lot, because he only ever destroyed what she built for him), but, apparently, putting together three pieces of wood was too much to ask of the Savior. Right.

"I knew that! I was just… testing if you pay attention, is all," Emma lied, because it was seriously ridiculous how much of an anti-talent she was when it came to basic lesbian skills.

"Of course, dear."

Although she wasn't able to see it, she could literally hear Regina's smirk.

"Don't be such a meanie," the blonde whined exaggeratedly, because this was bullshit.

Cribs should come in one piece. Or with tiny people to magically assemble them overnight. Maybe she could call the fairies to help (because her own magic was still completely useless in most everyday situations, and Regina couldn't use hers since that would be too exhausting for her and the baby).

"I'm not, you're just incompetent."

Emma let out another ridiculous wailing noise.

"Don't you have to be nice to me now; with me being your loving girlfriend and all?"

"Would you really want us to be like your parents, Miss Swan?" the brunette teased, and, damn, it was hot when Regina called her "Miss Swan" now (okay, it had always been, kind of, especially paired with one of those head to toe once overs, which had left Emma wondering if Regina was planning to kill her, or bend her over the nearest desk).

"God, no. I mean, I love them, but… no."

In her head, she saw pictures of "I will always find you," and feeding each other ice cream. And no, thank you very much.

While, for sure, her parents' marriage was the prime example for a loving and stable true love relationship, it just wasn't her—and, especially, not her and Regina.

They were intense; forces of nature—like volcanoes, or earthquakes—and when they collided, they did with a bang, an explosion big enough to dash whole realms.

Up until now, they—luckily—hadn't had a real fight as a couple (not like they used to fight when they were still enemies, anyway) and, to be honest, Emma already dreaded the day it would happen, because she knew it had to sooner or later.

At the moment, they were probably still too much in the honeymoon phase of their relationship to remember that, before this, they'd basically fought each other any chance they'd gotten.

"That's what I thought."

The room was quiet for a while, before Emma gave up her futile attempts to ever get this crib pieced together properly, and just leaned her head against the brunette's thigh instead.

"Did you ever think this would happen?"

Regina put the magazine down and just looked at the other woman.

"You mean us falling for each other?"

A nod was the only answer the mayor got.

"At some point, I thought it would make sense on paper, I guess—something about going full circle—but then again, I was sure that, realistically, it would never actually happen."

Regina shrugged.

Truth to be told, the blonde had thought about that as well.

How much of them ending up as a couple was choice, and how much was pure fate? The Savior saving the Evil Queen. Snow White giving Regina her happy ending in form of her daughter, after she had been the one who had taken it away in the first place.

If this whole thing even lasted long enough to count as "happily ever after."

Not that she necessarily doubted that they could make it work long term, or that she wasn't serious about this relationship—quite the opposite, actually. However, even people who loved each other a lot didn't make it through, sometimes.

She trusted Regina, she trusted her with her life, but, also, she wouldn't blame her for choosing Robin in the unlikely case he somehow managed to get back to Storybrooke. All in all, Emma just wanted the brunette to be happy (which, at least for the foreseeable future, would hopefully be with her).

"But now it did," Emma concluded, just as she reached for Regina's hand to intertwine their fingers.

"Yes, now it did."

For a while, the blonde just stared at the other woman, before she said something.

"I love you."

Once again, the impact of that statement hit her.

It still felt a little weird to say it; like exposing yourself, making yourself vulnerable in ways that could very well destroy you at some point.

But she trusted Regina—most of the time more than she trusted herself, even—and she knew that the brunette wouldn't abuse that trust, wouldn't purposefully hurt her, because she was just as vulnerable here.

This was scary for both of them. Scary, because it was new, and big, and important. Scary, because it was beautiful, but it also had the potential to break them both to pieces. This was all or nothing, this was endgame. Hopefully.

Regina tugged on the blonde's hand to pull her up, before she kissed her.

Their kisses were still somewhat chaste, careful, and not at all the struggle for dominance Emma had always imagined them to be. They were still testing the waters, too afraid that, soon, the other shoe would drop.

"I love you too, Emma," Regina responded, her forehead pressing against the sheriff's, one hand carefully caressing the other woman's cheek, and Emma wondered what she had done to even remotely deserve this.

It was a few hours—and a tirade of hate, after Emma had hit her own thumb with a hammer—later, that they were standing side by side, admiring the finished baby's room.

The walls were painted a light green, Emma had gotten Henry's old toys out of the basement after Regina had instructed her where they were—it had only taken her about an hour to find the boxes, because, apparently, Regina had developed a serious problem with distinguishing left from right over the past weeks—and the crib, now properly assembled, stood where it was supposed to stand.

It looked perfect.

The only thing that, according to Regina, was still missing, was some decorations (which Emma thought was kind of ridiculous, because it wasn't like the baby would care, anyway, but whatever).

"So what are we going to put on the wall? Maybe a poster or something. I saw a Snow White one online a few days back," the sheriff teased, because it was still how they communicated; in quips, and banter, and whispered confessions in the dark, because they had both never been particularly good when it came to interacting with other human beings.

After all, deep down, they were still the abused daughter of a woman who wanted too much and the neglected orphan struggling to find her place in the world. They still had problems, both individually and together.

But, also, there were open confessions of love now.

They slipped from their lips seemingly effortlessly, right in between all the usual bantering and snarky comments.

"Don't you dare, Emma Swan," the older woman warned, but the sheriff knew that, if she really wanted to, the other woman would let her put it up anyway.

"So what do you propose?" the blonde asked, one arm sneaking around Regina's shoulders to pull her close.

"Our first family picture; you, me, Henry, and the little one."

Regina was wearing a radiant smile, while she absentmindedly rubbed a hand over her belly.

Emma, on the other hand, had to fight back tears, because this whole situation was just too much to handle; this unconventional makeshift family that they'd created without even planning to—two women, who used to hate each other, the son they shared, and a baby with a father no one wanted to ever really see again—but she wouldn't change it for the world.

This was her forever-family.

Regina, however, interpreted the blonde's initial silence as rejection.

"Not a good idea?" she asked, smile faltering, although she desperately tried—and failed—not to let her disappointment show.

"It's a great idea," Emma assured, and kissed Regina on the temple.