A/N: It's been about two and a half years since I last updated this little story. I can only apologise, sincerely, for neglecting Swan Queen. Once Upon A Time consumed my life for quite a while and honestly, a) I needed a break, and b) I got very swept up in life and other Netflix programmes (lol). I've just read it through and am still so proud of it – nearly three years later– that I thought it deserved an ending. Hope this satisfies. Again, very sorry for the longest wait of all time. If any of you have stuck around, thank you. Truly. (If you have time, re-reading the previous chapters will definitely make this one more powerful).

P.S The first part of this chapter is in Emma's POV.

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

Regina's words are pulled apart, made unfamiliar by her frown and careful concern. Emma blinks.

"Yes," she replies (but it's more of a reflex than anything else).

They stand in a heavy silence. Emma, losing her hands in the delicacy of her wedding dress, and Regina watching the embroidered flowers tense under shaking fingers.

"That dress looks uncomfortable," Regina says suddenly and there's a hint of Mayor behind the eyes Emma has so often come to recognise as friend. As home.

She wants to retort, she wants to ask to be left alone but she's scared of who she might see if confronts the mirror, who she might become.

"Honestly, it is," she laughs but it's fragile and sounds too much like choking.

"I never had you for a conventional bride, Emma Swan," the brunette smiles. It reads like a grimace.

"I-" she pauses, her collar too tight and Regina too Regina, "I never thought I would be one."

"Life's strange like that."

And Emma has to turn away from the dangerous brown eyes threatening to shatter this happiness (because he is her happiness) she's worked tirelessly to protect. It is only when Regina leaves the room, her perfume still lingering, that Emma precariously entertains that perhaps her happiness is not what is standing in a suit alongside her father.

The dinner party had ended and the rest of her life began. That's how Snow had described it, collecting flowers and guest lists, and Pinterest boards for her perfect princess. Emma was too tired to object. She stood, passive, in fitting after fitting, as her parents' fantasy moulded around her frame. It was a month long-process; the speed of it all made her dizzy. She spent most evenings with her hand cold around a wine glass, the remnants of beer on her lips from where Killian had kissed her.

"This wedding stuff is a lot, huh, love?"

A part of her had wanted to ask him if he wanted it, really wanted, or if, like her, he was settling. The fairy-tale was open – all they had to do was sign their names on the dotted line and yay, happily ever after. She opened up another beer for him instead.

But what made the month near-impossible had been Regina Mills, or rather, her absence. Glimpses of brown hair here and there, a text or two regarding Henry, perhaps a line about wedding planning, was all the blonde had seen or heard from the Mayor. And it was torture.

She'd walked to the mansion far too many evenings, only to stop before she knocked on the door. Terrified, honestly, because what was there to say? She was too late. The unspoken dissolved in fleeting touches, blinking across coffee tables, friends and I'm saying you should marry Hook.

He did make her happy. They laughed, the sex was good, not amazing but good, everything was enough, sustainable. It was good for Henry, to have a father figure, however, questionable a one-handed pirate was to assume that role. Regina… she was complicated, unwritten and Emma knew that for her marriage (that still sounded ridiculous) to work, the brunette needed to stay as Henry's other mother. Nothing more.

But… she really was. More. More than enough, more than a mother, more than a queen, more than a Mayor, more than her friend and shit, how the hell did they get here?

/

Snow is practically floating; her hands are cupped under her chin and she looks so much like her younger self that Regina blinks. The former princess leans towards her.

"How is she?"

She'd spent the last month preparing for that moment – seeing her, in that dress, Emma, her Emma, shrunken in that white monstrosity (like something cut out from a Victorian text book). Her breathing quickened and she quelled her magic, anger and hurt and what ifs tangling and threatening to erupt.

Regina's smile is empty. "She's fine."

For a fleeting moment, something like realisation flickers in Snow's eye and Regina ducks her gaze because it's too late now, the aisle is waiting and Emma… she's fine.

"I'm going to freshen up," she says and stands, turning from Snow. The wedding party gathers in bunches around the periphery, scattering the lawn and laughing (because it's a celebration, weddings are happy places).

Regina inhales, nausea scratching in her stomach. She thinks suddenly of the Enchanted Forest and Snow and David, their epic love and her revenge holding them apart. She thinks of how David almost married another woman and how Snow would have coped, because if it's possible, she needs to know how. She refuses to feel this pain the rest of her life.

"Are you okay?"

Robin positions himself beside her, a noticeable distance, and she almost collapses.

"Not particularly."

He shifts his shoulders and stares out into the forest, perhaps thinking of them, that lifetime ago. The Queen and the Thief, simple. "I have to ask, then why?" His gaze is empathetic, pained because she's pained, and he probably still loves her.

"Why what?"

"Regina…"

The brunette turns and a tear is carving a slow, cruel, line into her cheek, onto her lip and he reaches a finger, instinctive. Regina flinches and Robin stills, his hand dropping, suddenly lifeless.

"You love her. You told me that so why? Why let this happen?"

She closes her eyes and Emma is there, laughing, teasing, saving her, over and over again. "Because I can't lose her."

Robin shakes his head. He gestures behind him, around him, "Then what do you call this?"

Loosing her. And he's right, completely. Her soulmate, ironically. But she's terrified and it's too late.

"We should go back," she says, "the ceremony starts in five minutes."

He reaches for her hand and she lets him, doubting her ability to even hold herself up anymore. They're almost at the door when David runs out, his face warped in concern.

"Emma's gone."

"What?"

The man is frantic, forehead folded in confusion and Emma Swan's left her wedding. The concept is quietly thrilling and shakes her heart into tremors. Robin squeezes her hand. "Regina will find her."

David's gaze finds hers. She tries to smile. "Fine, just be quick. Please."

He falls back into the church and Robin unfolds his fingers from hers. "Go," he whispers, "And this time, don't let her go."

….

Emma Swan looks up as she approaches, afraid. Regina inhales and rasps on the Bug window.

"Running away from your own wedding. Almost as dramatic as me showing up at your parents'."

The blonde blinks, then unlocks the passenger door. Regina sinks into the seat, catching on Emma's dress. The other woman shifts, the folding of silk the only sound. Neither look beyond the wind-screen, fearing what might happen if their eyes collide.

"Can I ask you something?" Emma's question startles her.

"Of course."

"I don't think you were honest before. At the dinner party, I mean…" she almost laughs, so broken it snaps in Regina's ear, her chest, "I gave you a chance."

She can't breathe, not really, and she shakes her head, attempts a smile. "That's not a question, Emma."

The blonde closes her eyes. "Fine. Should I marry him?"

No.

"Regina?"

"I-"

No!

"This is it. Right now, a last chance, because after this, I won't be able to survive it anymore."

And this time, Emma looks at her. Her eyes are faded against the white dress, that brilliant blue dimmed under Snow's fantasy, the world's expectation. Wow, she misses that red jacket. Her breath builds, her heart drums and Regina blinks the tears away too late.

"No."

"You idiot," Emma smiles, softly, and kisses her.

A/N: And there it is. Short and sweet but the build up was so incredibly angsty, I wanted a moment like this: Emma and Regina, in the bug, beginning their chapter.

In my mind, Hook is shocked but a little relieved himself. The pirate life suits him much better than domesticity. Snow, naturally, takes the longest to understand but Emma is happy and that's enough for her, always. Henry is thrilled – his moms were not the most the subtle with their feelings and he still marvels over how it took them so long. And for Regina, it's freedom… to love and be loved.

If you enjoyed this story, please do share it and leave a review. I'm so happy to have finally finished.