Their fifteen year reunion is different than all the others. It's a picnic out on the front lawn of the high school, by now most of them are married, and have kids that the schlep from all corners of the country back to Maine for the barbeque.
Emma is sitting with David and Mary Margaret who is bouncing a two year old on her knee.
"So how's everything with work?" David asks, handing his wife a napkin for their little boy.
"It's alright, I've gotten super bogged down in this new project that the firm just took up."
"Is it anything interesting?"
"No, not really." Emma replies modestly.
A brunette tornado comes streaking out of the mass of people near the barbeque and Emma seamlessly snags him and throws him up into the air before catching him again.
A taller brunette trails him, places a kiss to Emma's temple, and sits gracefully beside her.
"What did I miss?" She asks.
"Just talking about work." Emma says.
"Did you tell him about your new project?"
Emma blushes, "It's not a big deal."
"Baby, you're literally a rocket scientist."
Emma shrugs, "Do you want me to take Nora?"
The brunette shakes her head, readjusting the baby she's holding in the crook of her arm, "I've got her."
"What about you, Regina? Anything new with work?"
"You know that case in upstate New York with the child smuggling ring?" Regina asks, her face brightening like it always does when she talks about work.
"Yeah."
"I'm first chair on the team prosecuting those guys."
"Aren't you on maternity leave?" Mary Margaret asks with a critical eye.
Emma just hardly manages to slip her arm around Regina's shoulder reassuringly before Regina has a chance to lay into the other brunette. Emma knows that had Regina not been holding their daughter, Mary Margaret may well have been bleeding.
"So how have things been with you two?" Emma asks, redirecting the conversation.
"Great, Mary Margaret and I have a house on Mifflin street. She's been teaching art down at the elementary school, and I'm with the sheriff's department." David smiles.
Emma knows that he's one of the few people who could have stayed in Storybrooke after high school and truly been happy.
Somewhere across the grass, one of the other members of their class produces a soccer ball and starts an impromptu game for all of the kids.
Henry immediately perks up, "Ma, can I go play?" He asks excitedly.
"Sure Hen, be careful." Emma says, patting his hair down as he runs off to join the game.
Once the boy is out of earshot, the claws are back out. Mary Margaret hands her son Neil off to David and raises her eyebrows at Regina, "Will you come help me get some bags for the gifts ready?" She asks.
Regina sees through the other woman's question, but knows that she might as well get this conversation over with, "Of course. Emma, take Nora for me?"
She hands off the little girl that Emma holds with such care. She runs her hand over the soft baby brunette curls of their daughter's head, only a few months old and Nora is already the spitting image of Regina.
Mary Margaret and Regina walk the short distance over to the table they had set up with nametags, reaching underneath to pull out the bags they had made up to give to everyone in attendance.
"So what happened with Robin?" Mary Margaret asks, not even bothering with pleasantries before jumping into her questioning.
"We got married just after I graduated law school." Regina says, not making eye contact with the teacher, "A few months later, he was flying his private plane and he crashed." She does her best to control her voice, for as much as she loves Emma, and as much as she's always loved Emma, she'll always have a special place for her husband, just as Emma has a special place for Jen who sat in the fourth row at their wedding, and nearly tackled a bridesmaid in an attempt to catch the bouquet that Regina and Emma threw together, "I was pregnant with Henry, Robin didn't even know about him yet."
Regina's gaze is still down on the bags when she feels a pair of arms wrap around her, "I'm so sorry, Regina." She stiffens initially before bringing an arm up to return the hug to Mary Margaret.
"Thank you." She wipes her eyes quickly, "So are you reassured?"
The teacher freezes at being called out, "I wasn't-"
"I know you were, and I don't blame you. You care about Emma." Regina says finishing with the bags, "Shall we go back?"
"Yeah."
As they approach their table again, both brunettes stop short to regard their significant others holding their small children. They're both holding their kids up as if they were standing on the table.
"I'm so cute, look at my little baby curls." Emma says with a high pitched voice, to which David responds with an equally high voice.
"I'm even cuter, I have tiny little toddler shoes."
"No way, I'm cuter!"
"No you're not!"
Regina clears her throat briefly. Emma turns around slowly, still holding Nora up in front of her, "Don't be mad at Ma, I made her do it, Mommy." She says in the high pitched voice.
Regina rolls her eyes and smiles. Emma sees the same light in her eyes that she saw that day years ago when she left her at the airport. It was the same light that Emma saw when they said 'I do' and the same light when she looked into their daughter's eyes for the first time.
Emma knows without a doubt that Regina loved her today, and she would love her tomorrow, she had loved her since they were eighteen.
Regina sits next to her wife, leaning into the blonde.
"You know, we're kind of high school sweethearts." Regina says with a smile.
"Yeah, I guess we are."
A/N- That's all. Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, and stuck with this story for the past couple of weeks. Drop one final review to let me know what you thought/what you want to see in my next story.
Also, shameless plug- if you enjoyed this story and maybe have a tiny toothache from how sweet it was, check out my other story 'Falling in Love (Apart)' for a little fix of angst.
And as always, have a wonderful day!
- Ms. Informed