"You have two moms?" Violet asked Henry as they sat outside Storybrooke Academy. Her long dark hair was blowing in the wind and her hands fluttered about trying to tame the tresses into place. "Isn't that? I don't know. Weird."

Henry gave a little shrug. "I don't know. It's kind of cool, I guess. I mean they are both pretty different."

"Yeah," she said slowly. "How does it work though? I mean I have a dad and my mom died when I was younger. So it's just him. He kind of plays both parents for me. But you have two moms. Does one act more like a dad?"

"I guess," he said, chewing his lip as he thought about it carefully. "My birth mom is probably more dad like. I don't know. I haven't really had a dad. My dad wasn't in my life long before he died. But yeah. I could see her being like that."

"She's the blonde, right?" Other than Camelot, Violet had met both women and spent quite a bit of time with them on a drive back from New York that was more about lectures and yelling than getting to know each other. "The one who dates that pirate guy with one hand?"

Henry scrunched his nose up. "Not anymore. She was going to live with him and everything, but he cheated on her. I don't know all the details, but it was messy for a while. She was upset. Mom…my other mom…she let her move in so she didn't have to deal with living in that big house by herself and living with all those memories."

"That's horrible," she added thoughtfully. "I mean the cheating part. It's cool that your mom let your mom move in." She giggled at that statement. "Okay it's still weird to say. I guess I was just wondering if they, you know, like each other."

***XX***

Violet was not the only one wondering about the relationship between the two women, as most of the town had been commenting amongst themselves at the tiny vignettes they had seen playing out over the past few weeks. There was the fact that Regina had picked up lunch for two from Granny's and then disappeared into the sheriff's station for quite a while longer than would be necessary. At Henry's soccer game, the two women not only acknowledged each other, but sat together and leaned in more than a few times to talk and laugh between plays. Granny and Leroy both swore that they had seen the two women embrace one morning after Henry had been deposited on the bus. As they retold the story to the others in the diner, the embrace was far from a platonic friend type hug and included slight caresses and secretive little smiles as both women held each other.

"They are so doing it," Ruby informed Kathryn as the two women were discussing the most recent sighting of the two. "I mean have you seen the way Regina's smiling. You don't get that from a vibrator."

The blonde woman giggled, leaning across the counter. "I sincerely hope you are right, Ruby. I can't think of anyone who deserves more happiness than Regina. Seriously, she's paid enough for her past and gotten a shitty end of the deal most of the time."

While there were certainly still hard feelings from the wolf/waitress toward the woman, she did nod her head in agreement. "Emma too. I mean it's kind of cool to think of the fact that the woman who was responsible for Emma's crappy childhood is now the one making her happier than I've ever seen her."

Casting her eyes over at one of the booths across the way where David and Mary Margaret were sitting and drinking their morning tea, Kathryn giggled. "Do you think they know?"

Ruby stifled a smile. "I know from experience that Snow is fine with the whole lesbian or bi thing, but David? I'm not so sure. And it'll be a bit awkward given that whole evil queen or stepmother thing. They may be on friendly terms, but there's a lot of baggage there."

The blonde woman nodded again, her grin growing. "I know it is petty as hell, but I would love to see Snow's face when she finds out. That one is going to hurt for sure." She blew into the steaming mug of coffee she was holding. "Sorry, Ruby. I know you guys are friends."

"No, I get it," Ruby said, wiping the counter for the fourth time as she pretended to work. "I'd be willing to bet there is a bit of poetic justice in it for Regina too. They were enemies for decades. And now she's bedding her enemy's daughter." She stood up as Granny lumbered by. "I mean if that's what is going on."

***XX***

"Oh God, you can't still be mad at me," Zelena purred as she lifted baby Robin into her arms. At six months the baby was looking more and more like her mother, much to the woman's delight. Strawberry curls framed her cherubic face and eyes so blue were framed by the light lashes. "I mean it has nothing to do with you really."

"Emma showed up on my doorstep devastated by what she saw you doing with her boyfriend," Regina reminded her. "I've never seen her so upset."

The two women were sitting in the main office of city hall, Regina's meeting postponed until later and her sister demanding a bit of attention coinciding. They were closer now, having leaned on each other in both the underworld and its aftermath.

"It didn't push her to do anything, did it?" Zelena asked, peering over the baby's head with her best feigned innocent look. "Oh come on, sis. You know that rebound sex can be kind of great. Angry, desperate, passionate. And don't pretend you wouldn't absolutely melt into a puddle if she offered something more than just a quick little tumble. You're a terrible liar, Regina."

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that."

Her long delicate hand ran circles on the infant's back before she placed a soft kiss to the top of her head. "Hmmm," she sighed, readjusting her hold on Robin. "Pretend away, dear. I can I pretend too. Like I pretend that Emma's clothes and whatnot aren't in your bedroom. Like I pretended that I wasn't fully aware that she hadn't slept in the guest room the other morning when I came by for breakfast."

Regina's nostrils flared as she dug her nails into her palms. "Zelena, if you even suggest…"

"I'm not suggesting anything." The feigned innocent look was back. "I'm just offering my congratulations. I mean it isn't every day that my sister falls in love."

"Who said it is love?" the mayor sputtered as she looked back down to her desk and its stack of files that she still needed to get covered. "I mean…it's not anything…"

"Whatever you say. But be sure to tell Emma that I'm dropping Robin off with you guys tonight. You're still up for babysitting, right? I know this little girl wants to see her aunties."

***XX***

"Do you think it's odd?" Mary Margaret asked her husband that evening as she waved the spoon in front of her son's mouth. The baby made a face and refused the green goo his mother tried to feed him. Sighing, she tried again. "Emma living at Regina's?"

David had just brought up the laundry from the building's basement wash center and set to folding the shirts and pants that were now smelling of lavender fabric softener. "I don't know. I mean I can't blame her for not wanting to stay in that house where she caught Hook and Zelena. And this place is kind of small for three adults, a baby, and sometimes Henry. Regina's got the room so why not?"

Snow mimicked the baby's sour expression. "I get that. It's just a little…odd. I didn't realize they were so close, you know?"

"It's good for them both," David reconciled as he tossed another of the folded shirts into a pile. "Regina's been through a lot with losing Robin. Then there's Emma finding out about Hook. They have built up a sort of friendship I think. I'm sure they are bonding over glasses of wine and chick flicks or something. Isn't that what you ladies do?" He laughed snorted at his own joke, keeping his head down as his wife glared at him.

It wasn't as though the same questions had not popped into his head. He worked with his daughter and had noticed a few things himself. There were the text messages she would get that caused her to smile and on at least one occasion he had seen giggle. He'd never heard his daughter giggle in his life, but there she sat with her jean clad legs on the desk as her little laugh resonating as she stared at the phone's screen. When he asked, she clammed up. Then there were the drop by meetings with Regina. The woman had never taken much of an interest in the affairs of the office, but seemed to stop by at least three times a week to discuss a budget item or new equipment. The two were sharing lunches that he was not invited to join. But the most blatant was the fact that his daughter was referring to the woman as Gina. It wasn't just the nickname that struck him but the way she lifted the corners of her mouth as she said it and the way that Regina gave the same coy expression back.

"If you knew anything, you'd tell me right?"

David stood a little straighter, rolling his shoulders back. "Like what? You don't think…"

"I know it's crazy, but Emma…before the curse broke she admitted to me that she had been with women before. Don't freak out. I doubt she told you any of this. She said that it was just experimenting and all, but when I asked her about it more she admitted that she was still attracted to women. You don't think she's attracted to Regina, do you?"

"I'm sure there is nothing to worry about, Snow."

***XX***

"Zelena thinks she knows about us," Regina informed Emma that night. Most of the evening had been spent babysitting the young Robin, which was in a word awkward. Emma had not come downstairs to greet the baby's mother, having already heard that she was using their service to spend time with Killian. Who did that? Who asked the jilted ex to babysit? But then again she was using the late father's lover in the same way. So maybe Zelena did not really have any sense of shame in her choice of sitters.

"I'm sure she would think that way," Emma said sourly as she leaned into the refrigerator and let out a groan. "You don't have anything sweet in here. I'm craving sweet and all you've got is crap."

The mayor rolled her chocolate eyes and stepped around the blonde with a playful swat at her rounded behind. "My sister does tend to assume the dirtier of scenarios in each situation, but I was just telling you that people are starting to talk." Reaching into the cold box, she retrieved a yogurt and handed it to the pouting woman. "Try that. It's a little sweet. I go for that when I'm craving decadent."

"So people are talking," Emma repeated, her head bobbing a bit and ponytail bouncing along. "Well, we could ignore it or we can just own up to it and admit that we're seeing each other."

"Seeing each other? Is that what we're doing, Miss Swan?" The nickname had started as a formal way to keep the woman at arm's length. She had used it to remove the familiarity of her from even conversation and the possibility that she might insert herself into their lives. Now it was more of a way of riling the woman up.

"This stuff is not sweet, Gina," Emma replied, firing back with the nickname of her own. "We really need to work on your definition of decadent. And what else do you want to call it? I don't think fuck buddies is a term my friends and family are ready to accept when it comes to me and you."

Regina slid back onto the stool at the kitchen island, frowning as she considered the label that they would eventually have to adopt. "I doubt your parents are going to like this even with the most creative of titles, dear. We're not going to be having a fan club any time soon."

Emma dug the spoon back into her snack. "Henry will be thrilled."

Their son would be, Regina thought with a subtle laugh. He was a teenager, but he had already commented a few times how great it was to have both his moms in one house. Perhaps he had watched Parent Trap or some other movie of its kind a few too many times, but the kid was enjoying the togetherness. He no longer had to switch houses every few days. The stability was doing wonders for him, even with all the craziness of Storybrooke. "He will be."

"And Ruby will probably win a bet with someone. She's been more than a little suspicious about my leanings since I arrived." Licking the chocolate flavor off of the spoon, Emma leaned forward conspiratorially. "She may have actually been my first encounter here in Storybrooke."

Regina gave the other woman a scolding look. "Was this before or after you met me, Miss Swan. I do prefer to think that you were pining away for me."

"After, but you were definitely on my mind. Had to work my frustration out somehow since I thought I didn't stand a chance." She spun around and threw her spoon in the sink as if sinking a basketball in its basket. "Let's start with Henry. It'll build up our confidence."

"What? Now?" She shifted on the stool uncomfortably. "Shouldn't we practice or something?"

Emma snorted, reaching out her hand and linking it with Regina's. "You said it yourself. People are talking. It's not going to be a surprise to him. His bedroom is across the hall, but have you heard yourself. You're kind of a screamer, Gina." The blush on Regina's usually impassive face gave Emma an extra boost. "But you know I love that about you. I love being the one that makes you respond that way."

Squaring off her shoulders, Regina looked ready to lead an army into war as she stared at the door into the family room where their son was sitting playing video games. Emma was right, but this was still a big step in their lives and relationship. "You aren't going to let me live that down."

Emma lowered her sarcastic smirk as she smiled more affectionately. "Gina, the night you became my lover instead of my friend is not something I will forget. And the fact that you screamed out my name like that only made it better. Now let's go tell our son that he's now the son of a two parent household."

***XX***

"There's something we need to talk to you about," Regina said with her best motherly voice. Henry had eyed them both suspiciously when they walked in the room. Maybe it was her imagination, but she saw him staring at the hand that Emma had been holding. "It's not bad or anything."

"So dramatic," Emma said, flopping down beside the boy. "Why don't I do it? You can do the next one?"

Regina pursed her dark lips together. They were really doing this. Of course there would be more conversations. She wasn't sure what she had thought it would be like. Maybe they could have reconsidered. She could call a town meeting and get it over in one shot.

"So your mom and I have been talking and when I moved in here we realized that some things have changed."

Regina smiled as the way the sheriff was running her hands up and down on her own denim thigh. She was nervous too, she thought gleefully.

"Yeah?"

"Henry, sometimes when two people spend time together and have been friends and everything…sometimes they realize there is something more there. Something more than friendship." She drew in a shaking breath and squinted her eyes closed. "Do you know what I'm saying?"

"Like love, right?" Henry asked, shifting his gaze between the two women. He was smiling, which they took as a good sign.

"Well, yeah, sort of. I mean that's a bit strong." Emma looked at Regina pleadingly.

"What Emma's trying to say is that we are dating."

"Cool," Henry said, leaning back against the plush cushions and letting that crooked grin of his show through. "So you're like lesbians now, right?"

Clearing her throat, Regina searched her head for some sort of answer. "Well I don't know that we are labeling it like that quite yet."

Emma nodded and tried to keep the smirk off her face. "Your mom is a bit newer at this. And without going into TMI with my own son, I think it is safe to say that I'm a little more comfortable wearing that title. So if you want to refer to me as a lesbian that's fine."

Regina tried not show her shock at how easily Emma branded herself, but she supposed she knew that was coming. One of the first things that Emma had admitted the night she moved in was that her relationships with men had never felt real. She had gone through the motions in an effort to squash the feelings that she was too scared to admit. It was ridiculous to think that she had felt so much pressure to conform, but Emma explained it as she was always looking for acceptance. So far that had meant dating men to fit into a box she was not all that comfortable with.

Henry seemed to appreciate Emma's confession, looking at her with almost more respect. "You know," he said, turning to face Regina. "It's okay if you are too. I mean I know you loved Robin, but maybe you're like her too."

"Baby steps," Emma said, shoving her elbow into Henry's rib. "Now, if that's all for the questions…"

"One more," Henry said. "So you are dating and living here together. I guess that means it is serious."

It was Regina's turn to field a question and she took it on like a champ. "Henry, Emma and I care about each other very much. And yes, it is serious to us. We didn't develop these feelings overnight."

"Does Grandma know?" he asked suddenly, following the impromptu question with a laugh that only a teenager could emit. "Can I be there when you tell her?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "Yeah, she doesn't know yet. You're the first one we have told. And no, you can't be there. There might be some hurt feelings and fire balls thrown around. But I promise you that no matter what my parents say or anyone in this town says, your mom and I do care about each other and love you."

Henry flopped backwards. His white uniform shirt he had worn to school was wrinkled, as were the khaki pants. But knowing Regina there were four more matching sets at least all pressed and hung in his closet. Picking up his feet he put them on the table until a look from Regina and a nudge from Emma reminded him that the rules were still in place even if things were changing. "You guys did it kind of backwards. You have a son together and then you get together. Think you'll get married?"

Emma groaned as Henry continued his idea about something in the backyard with friends and food. She stood abruptly and flipped the back of his hair up. "Okay kid, bed time."

***XX***

Kathryn was another one who was easy to tell, as she squealed with delight as she pulled Regina in for a hug and then Emma. Laughing, she realized afterward that might be awkward given her parents and the past, but the other blonde seemed to take it well.

"You know," Kathryn said, lifting back up her glass of wine as she sat on the white chair across from them. "I had heard the rumors, but this is so much better than that. If you need anything, like anything, let me know, okay?"

Regina smiled back at her friend and tipped her glass in that direction as Emma excused herself to take a phone call from the station. She squeezed Regina's thigh as she got up, eliciting another happy squeal from Kathryn.

"Okay! She's gone. You've got to tell me," the blonde woman hissed toward Regina. "Tell me everything. I don't mean the sex. God I don't need to know about that. I mean have you told her mother yet? Did she just die?"

"You're horrible," Regina said, turning her eyes downward and shaking her head. "I didn't…I mean…"

"Oh God, Regina, I know. It's not like you set out to bed your worst enemy's daughter, but tell me. Doesn't that make it all the better?" She pretended to pout. "Come on. Just tell something good."

"You are horrible," Regina repeated, casting a glance toward the closed door. "But yes it is kind of fulfilling to know that Snow White's daughter prefers my bed." She darted her eyes back toward Kathryn. "And if you tell anyone that, I'll turn you into a toad."

Kissing two fingers and thrusting them into the air, she swore herself to silence. "Can I watch? I mean when you tell Mary Margaret. I won't say a word. I just want to watch her realize it. I know. I know. Everyone loves her and she's so perfect. But God, Regina, she's a sanctimonious bitch. And after everything that she put you through in the Enchanted Forest, the fact that you have her daughter is so amazing. Even the author couldn't have written it better than that."

Regina knew that she and Mary Margaret considered themselves friends now, even allies in several respects. But that would probably all be gone when this news reached the former bandit's ears. And that little bit of the Evil Queen that still sat inside her was gloating over the way this had worked out. It was wrong to think that way, she had told herself, but the thought still simmered.

Later Regina found out that Emma had heard that conversation, her reaction less than smiling and happy. "Don't," Emma said, holding up a hand as she moved from the closet to the bed and dropped onto it. "You don't need to apologize for feeling that way. I get that your past with mom is a bit off. My past with her isn't that great. She sent me through a freaking wardrobe to another realm. As a baby. Alone. She sent me to a place where growing up was hell. And she has…" Emma stopped. She had never actually made these sentences into anything for anyone and there was the woman who had been instrumental in creating the situation looking at her with such sympathy that it hurt. "She's never apologized for it. Never said that it was the wrong choice. Never even said they considered anything else."

"That situation is my fault," Regina said when Emma finally let her speak. "I know that. I still don't know how you can look past it sometimes."

"Regina, what you did sucked, but you didn't do it to punish me. My parents decided that their best hope was to send their daughter into the world alone. And it doesn't stop there." She told her of the confession in the Echo Caves, how Snow was disappointed in their relationship. She told of the way she had been made to watch them coo and bond with her baby brother, essentially creating exactly what she had wanted without regard to her own feelings.

"Emma, sometimes I forget that you aren't as tough as this shell that you wear," Regina murmured, knowing instinctively that sympathy and pity were not going to help the sheriff. "I don't know why they can't seem to see how beautiful, strong, and wonderful you are, but my darling, I do."

Wiping the back of her hand across her cheek, she smiled. "You don't just see me as your enemy's daughter and way to get revenge?"

"I shouldn't have ever said that. You are more to me that that woman's daughter. You're Emma." She placed the gentlest of kisses to the blonde's lips, tasting the saltiness of the tears. "And you're my Emma."

Tilting her head, Emma reached out on laced her fingers through Regina's thick mane of dark hair, pulling her down to her again in a hungrier kiss. They stayed that way for a while, their kisses and caresses becoming bolder and filled with need. When Regina finally gave in and pulled away from her lovely mouth, Emma was panting to catch her breath. She reached out to twist a dark curl around her finger. "You know, I'm not totally opposed to the idea."

"What idea is that?"

"I want her to accept us, but maybe she could suffer a little."

Regina flopped backwards onto the mattress, pulling Emma with her. "You still have a little bit of that darkness still in you, don't you?"

***XX***

Ruby winked at Emma when she came into the diner the next morning, her smile nearly lecherous. "Morning, sheriff," she said, tilting her hip outward as she ran her hand down the curve of it to take out the order pad from her apron. "Anything special this morning or the usual?"

"Make it three of the morning combos with a coffee and two hot chocolates," Emma told her, bypassing her normal seat at the counter for one of the booths. "Whipped cream and cinnamon, okay?"

"Sure thing," Ruby sang, turning around to bark out the order to the cook before she sashayed back over to Emma and slid into the opposite bench. "So what's going on in the Swan-Mills house these days?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, her last name is Mills and you're Swan. So when you move in together we have to call your family something. That is what you are, right?" The wolf appeared almost animal like as she leaned in and folded her hands under her chin. "What? Kathryn gets and glass of wine and the backstory and I'm left here to make guesses. Don't tempt me, Emma. I have a vivid imagination and can come up with all sorts of things you and the mayor might be doing behind closed doors." She closed her eyes in demonstration and shivered with an embarrassingly loud moan.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Yes, I was going to tell you, but not before breakfast and not in front of my kid."

Smiling gleefully, Ruby took a deep settling breath. "You know you two set off everyone's radar from the start? Sure there were those who thought you were going to settle down with Hook or someone, but the sexual tension between you and Regina has been off the charts from the start. I should know, right? So what was it like when you two finally admitted it to each other? Just a little hint, please."

"Ruby, you have your own girlfriend. Don't you get enough of your taste for sexy stories there?"

The brunette's eyes narrowed on her friend. "I'll share if you do? Come on. All that pent up tension. Just smile if it was amazing. That's all the clue I need." Emma rolled her eyes, flipping her cellphone in her hand against the table as the waitress stared at her intently. She held back as long as she could until her face cracked into a smile that sent Ruby jumping up from the table and throwing her arms up in triumph. "I knew it!"