This was submission for Swan Queen Super Nova, Summer 2017. What had started as a short story, intending to be only a little more than 5,000 words, became something so much more! That is the magic of Swan Queen!

I would like to thank my artist, the very talented Niki Frost, for her artwork that inspired this story. I only hope that I have done it justice. If you google "A Happy Beginning (Fanart) by Niki Frost", you'll be able to see it.

Thank you to my beta, CreatedTheSoundOfMadness, for giving this story a second pair of eyes and offering helpful suggestions! You helped make me a better writer, and I am eternally grateful.

To the SQ SuperNova Team, thank you for all your efforts. All the planning and organizing you have done for this writing event, you are amazing!

For Swen, I will always be thankful for your support! That you read my fics and take the time to tell me how much you like them, or how much they have moved you, means more to me than you can possibly know. No matter what anyone tells you, Regina and Emma are true love. Celebrate the beauty of Swan Queen and SWEN ON!

Prologue

"By the state of Maine, I happily pronounce you, married. You may seal your union with a kiss."

The two women, dressed in white, drew the celebratory kiss out with lips sliding gently together. The small crowd clapped and cheered.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Mrs. and Mrs. Swan-Mills!"

Six months later…

Their kiss was a long, glorious exploration of lips as Emma Swan-Mills tenderly stroked up her wife's naked back, relishing the feel of smooth, still quivering skin. They gazed into each other's eyes in the soft candlelight of their bedroom. Theirs.

Emma, lost in the incomparable heat of Regina's body enveloping hers, mirrored her wife's smile and enjoyed the feel of a lingering thumb on her cheek.

"And what are you thinking about, darling," Regina's sultry timbre awakened another fervent reaction from her, which was crazy because they had just made love.

"Our wedding."

That garnered a bigger smile, and Regina moved impossibly closer. "Besides the day I brought my son home, it was the best day of my entire life."

Emma brushed a strand of her own blonde hair out of the way and then fingered a dark lock of Regina's. "It was a short courtship."

"Well, it's like you said, dear. When you know, you know."

Watching the brunette's plump lips move, Emma was blindsided by the urge to claim them and did so, indulging in their silky feel. "Still, there were quite a few funny moments along the way."

Regina's laugh sent a quake through Emma's body like it often did. The woman had the sexiest laugh she had ever heard. "Henry," was all the woman said of her son, or rather, their son now. Theirs.

Emma loved that kid and had from the beginning. He was hers now too, and she would be forever grateful to him for being such an important force in hers and Regina's coming together.

"I have him to thank, you know. I promise to always try my best to be a good parent to him."

Snickering, Regina added, "You are already a good parent to him." As a joke, she tacked on, "Except when you allow him to stay up to watch action movies on Sundays."

"Hey… the kid loves super heroes!"

"Yes, but I want him to like school just as much."

"Spoken like a true principal. Or, maybe an over-achieving mom." Emma gathered her close and kissed the tip of her nose. "Thanks, though, for letting me let him stay up."

Regina pulled Emma's hair back and nipped the tip of her dimpled chin. "I thought we had already established by now that you are his mom too."

"Well, yeah, but…"

"But nothing. He's ours now, Emma."

Green eyes misted and Emma wiped at the moisture, "He is such a wonderful boy, and you saying that is probably the greatest gift I've ever been given… besides you."

"Oh my God," Regina exclaimed and blinked back tears of her own. "When did we get so sappy?"

"We're happy! This is what it feels like."

"True happiness."

"True love, Regina."

"Sappy."

Girlish giggles filled the air as they moved together, embracing in the center of their bed.

Regina wrapped her arms around her wife, the throb between her legs growing stronger, as Emma painted kissed across her neck to behind her ear. Though, on some level it seemed inappropriate to think about Henry while they were in the midst of this kind of intimacy, Regina promised that tomorrow night she would prepare all of Henry's favorite dishes for dinner. The crispy fried chicken, with lumpy mashed potatoes, and chocolate ice cream sundae for desert would be her silent thank you for his stepmother.

Deftly, Emma rolled them so that Regina was on top and with hands on her hips, guided Regina in a slow ride against her own center. They found themselves climbing toward that inevitable release again, and when Emma sucked a tight nipple into her mouth she sent Regina from climbing to soaring and she soon followed.

This was their life. How they got here was the adventure. Their first meeting and that first date that led to many more. Fond memories that they would revisit over and over.