Tuesday, 23rd October 2018.

Despite that it felt like any other day, Emma was glad that today was her birthday. She woke up to her usual alarms, got her usual morning snuggles with her still sleeping girlfriend and did the same usual routine as any other day. But this birthday was different to the rest. This was her first birthday in a long time that she truly felt happiness. This year, she gets to spend it doing the things she loves, surrounded by the people she loved.

Her birthday was the last to be celebrated amongst all her friends and families and she couldn't help but to ponder back to a few days before Henry's birthday while she got ready for work.

It was a few months ago, August 15th, It was a Monday. Emma was awoken by a light shaking in her bed which made her sit up straight in a fright. It didn't take her long to figure out it was her girlfriend, Regina, convulsing with sobbing tears. Emma instantly pulled her girlfriend into her lap and patted her hair comfortingly. She had known that this day was coming and suspected it was going to be hard. Emma had honestly never expected Regina to begin to break down the moment that she woke up though.

"If you need to break down, then break down. I am here, I've got you. Let it all out baby, I'm not going anywhere. I am here." Emma comforted her the best way she could. She knew that it wasn't going to be easy, being that it was her late Husband's birthday.

Regina sobbed harder at Emma's words and clung onto her lover's white singlet. "I can't. I can't do it," Regina cried and hid herself further into Emma's chest.

"That's okay," Emma whispered soothingly, "You don't need to do anything." Emma slowly rocked Regina in her arms and she gently patted the hair away from her face. The Blonde kissed the brunette gently on the forehead and rested her cheek on the kiss. "Let yourself feel it all baby. I've got you, let it out. That's what love is all about. I'm here to take your hand and get you through it."

Regina sniffled and looked into the worried green eyes that looked at her cautious and caringly. "It feels like only yesterday that I got that phone call." She shook her head and slammed her eyes shut, fighting against the fresh tears that wanted to ball out of her. She fought in anger with herself. "It's not fair! I have had to make it without him for 7 years! I have had to sleep with a broken heart for 7 years! It hurts! My heart fucking hurts!"

Emma sniffled herself and let the few stray tears fall down her own face. It was hard for her to watch her girlfriend be in so much emotional pain. And it was built up pain too, Emma was aware that built up pain made it hurt even more. The blonde began to rock her again and shushed her smoothly in hopes to calm her down a little.

Regina mumbled into Emma's chest incoherently and squeezed her shirt filled hands tighter as she fought with her mind. The thoughts running through her head were driving her mad and she had no idea how to stop them.

"it's okay baby, let it all out," Emma said calmly.

Regina sat up and held her nose to try and stop her crying, "you- you d-don't want-t me to l-let it all-all out," she said shakily. Regina looked into the loving green eyes and shakily said, "trust me."

Emma lent forward and kissed Regina's cheek as she rubbed small circles on her back, "I've got you babe. You can let it out."

Regina straightened herself the best she could manage. Her chin wobbled and her eyebrows hardened closer as she sniffled again. She cleared her throat and half angrily said, "I hate that I love him so much after so long! I miss him! I love him so much, Em! He was my husband, he was the love of my life, my first love! He's the father of my son! I love him so fucking much and I fucking hate that he is gone. Most of all… I just hate that I really fucking love you right now. I hate that I love our life together more than anything I have ever experienced. I hate that I feel like I am tarnishing his memory by loving you. But I know him, I know Daniel. He'd want me to be happy with you. He'd be happy that we're happy. It's just really fucking hard to know that he'd be nothing but warm hearted about us. He was and will always be the best man I have ever had the pleasure of knowing."

Emma noticed that little bit of talking had eased Regina up a bit. "Tell me more about him," she coaxed with her warming words, "If it'd make you feel better, I'd like to know more about him."

Regina looked at Emma complexly but nodded in agreement. She told Emma about the many adventures that she and her deceased husband had been on while they went out on their horses and gallivanted around the countryside. It was hours later when they'd decided to freshen up and spend the day together as planned. Henry had stayed at his best friend's house, not yet old enough to understand the feelings fully that came with this day.

Emma dotted on Regina all day. She gave her girlfriend all the attention she needed and required to get through this day that tormented her yearly. She fragmentally knew what Regina was going through and knew that it was best to let it all out, instead of building it all up. By the time that Dinner time came around, Regina was back to her usual self, thanks to the freedom of expression that Emma allowed her to expel all throughout the day. They were able to spend the rest of their night listening to Henry talking excitedly about his upcoming birthday party.

That Monday had brought the entire family closer with the appreciation that they all had one another. Emma loved the little family that she had now and couldn't help but count herself lucky. It was not even a year ago yet that she'd applied for her dream position as a town Sheriff. And here she was, a Sheriff, girlfriend and a parental figure to a small 7 year-old boy that she loved more than anything in the world. A year can really make a difference.

Henry's birthday came to her mind too. And how even his birthday had part in changing the path in her new fantastic life with her friend's and family.

Throwback to Wednesday, 15th August 2018. Henry's Birthday Party.

With Regina's hand firmly holding onto her waist, Emma rested her cheek on her lover's head as they both smiled on, looking at their now 7 year old son. The small brown-haired boy danced around the playground with his friends and played carefree on the obstacles that lay ahead. The boys birthday party was coming to an end and the parents were all too happy to let their children burn off all the excess sugar that they'd consumed with the sweet treats that Henry has insisted on.

Emma smiled down at her girlfriend and gave her a sweet kiss on the head before pulling her into a tight hug while they continued to look on at the kids that were now playing tiggy around the jungle-gym.

Emma laughed as Henry jumped up and down with his arms flailing about to grab her attention and sire her over to go play with him.

"I think the Master of the house is summoning you, Dear," Regina chuckled and gave her younger girlfriend a light kiss before watching her join her son.

Emma jogged over to the small brunette boy, "what's sup, kid?" Emma said as she got to him.

"Can you play with us?" he begged with a big cheesy and pleading grin.

Emma chuckled and thought, (well, knew), that he'd leant that trick from her. "Sure, kid. What are we playing?"

"COPS AND ROBBERS!" He jumped joyfully!

"Awesome!" Emma thrilled with the same amount of excitement. "Am I the cop that has to chase the robbers?"

"Nah, ah! I'm the cop, you're the bad guy!" Henry said with a trying snarl on his face.

Emma laughed. "Alright, Kid. I'll be the bad guy for once. But I won't go easy on you! You're going to have to really try and catch me!"

Henry giggled manically as he watched Emma take off into the playground and began to climb her way through the jungle-gym. It was funny to watch the tall woman try and maneuvered around the other kids and squeeze herself through all the obstacles.

Emma sought for higher ground and climbed her way on top of the monkey bars and sat up there, taunting the little boy from bellow.

A small blonde haired girl, perhaps 5 years old, looked up at the Sheriff in wonder. "Whatchu doing up there?" she asked Emma curiously.

Emma pointed at Henry, "The police man is trying to arrest me for something I didn't do. I'm hiding up here until he finally lets me go," she said, keeping in character.

The little girl looked at Henry sideways and back up to Emma and smiled, "Can I play too! My Daddy is police man!"

"Sure!" Emma said before conspiracyly whispering, "Are you going to be a cop or be on the run with me?"

The little girl jumped on the spot, "I want to be on the run with you!"

Emma laughed. "Awesome! Go find a good hiding spot for yourself to stay hidden from the mean policeman!"

After an ecstatic smile, the girl ran off into the playground and giggled loudly as Henry chased her.

Emma watched on as the girl evaded Henry very stealthily around corners and only gave her positions away by laughing behind him. It brightened Emma's heart to see the young boy having so much fun. She jumped down from her perch and jogged over to where the two were now playfully wrestling with one another with an attempts of arrest.

"Hold up, Hen. Don't be so rough Kiddo. We don't want your friend getting hurt."

"I'm okay, Sheriff," said the little girl, "My Daddy is teaching me to be tough." The girl emphasised with the showing of her muscles.

"Who's your Dad?" Emma asked, noticing that she didn't know who this child was, or who she belonged to.

It took the girl a few seconds of looking around to find her Father, "HIM!" she said and pointed to none other than Killian Jones.

"Killian has a daughter?!" Emma said gob smacked with this new information.

The girl nodded, "My name is Alice. I've only known my Daddy for a little time, but I love him so much."

Emma smiled at Alice and Henry, never taking her eyes off of Killian Jones and said "You two go play nicely and I'll go chat with your Dad."

With a nod from both, they ran back to the playground to continue their games.

Curiously, Emma made her way over to Killian Jones. He was a lot more well-kept these days, making himself look like a presentable young man. The last time Emma had seen him, he was an alcoholic with a nasty temper. It appeared now that he was well into recovery and had some sort of glow about him.

"How's it going, Jones?" Emma said in greeting to make herself known.

Killian took a second look at the person speaking to him and blushed hard, "Sheriff Swan! It's been a while!" he said in an abnormally higher pitch than usual.

"it has!" she agreed with the same pitch. Emma placed her hands in her back pockets of her jeans and rocked on her heels nervously, wondering why exactly she came over to talk to the man that sexually harassed her many months ago. She cleared her throat , "so I met your daughter," she said to break the silence that was now present. She was surprised by the mega-watt smile that grew fondly on the man's face.

"Alice," he said lovingly, "yes, she was quite the surprise but the best thing to happen to me."

Emma grinned at the familiarity of newly loving a child, knowing how magical it could be to love someone so little so much. "That's amazing, Jones. You're looking good! How's your program been?"

"Better than I expected! It honestly has been enlightening, and I really have to thank you for that." Killian gave a thankful nod to the Sheriff and exhaled thoughtfully. "Let's go for a walk and talk, if that is okay, of course."

"Sure," Emma agreed and allowed the man to lead the way along the footpath that walked around the park.

After a moment of them falling into step with one another, Killian spoke. "I really do want to Thank You, Emma. You gave me the push that everyone was too afraid to do. Ever since I'd lost Milah, I stopped caring for myself and everyone eventually stopped caring about me too because of how much of a dick I ended up turning in to. You pushed back with my ill behaviour and forced me to get the help that I needed.

It wasn't ideal, but the AA course was exactly life's destiny for me. One of my old unstable flings was also there. Eloise had fallen pregnant to me years ago and had Alice. Child Services were forcing her to do the AA meetings so she could keep Alice out of the system. So as soon as she had an easy scape-goat, she literally dropped Alice at my front door and just disappeared and now no one has seen her in months. Alice told me that she did it all the time.. that her mother would drop her a Nanna's and then disappear for a while before coming back. So I knew I had to be different for her..

I've taken this seriously and now can say I'm well into recovery. I'll do anything to make her happy."

Emma listened on in amazement and was proud of the man he was becoming, "That is incredible. Honestly, I can see the impact she's had instantly on you. It really is life changing to be a parent."

"it is!" he agreed. "All I need now is to convince my old boss to possibly give me my job back," Killian said hopefully.

Emma stopped in their track and scratched her head in thought, "I don't know, Killian. It has been a while now since anyone has seen you and just one day of seeing you in recovery can't make up for the damages that was caused by your antics. I can't make that type of decision based on this small meeting."

"Well, will you let me make it up to you and the team? Can you let me volunteer my time and prove to you all how much I have evolved and how much I take this seriously? I want to be a cop again, I want to do my duty for this town that I love so much and call home. Please," he pleaded, "give me the chance to prove my worth. I need this job, I live for this job. It was always my dream!" he grovelled.

Emma grunted playfully as Killian smiled the most hopeful smile at her. "okay!" she agreed with a final finger in the air to stop him from celebrating too early, "we will trail it! But! All of the team has to agree to let you back. You did a lot of damage, but I personally don't think anyone is too far gone for redemption.. so prove me right and do the right thing!"

Killian smiled his usual mega-wat grin, "I won't let you down Sheriff!" he said and thanked her again.

So that now brings us back to today, almost 2 and a half months later, to Emma's birthday. Emma now stood in the middle of the newly constructed training field for the Storybrooke K-9 division.

What's a better way to spend your 27th birthday than to be training puppies to be stealthy little weapons of mass destruction, Emma thought to herself as she held the tensioned leads of the two eight-month old pups. The three male Deputies anxiously awaited across the field with their training gear on to see what the pups were about to do. Killian held a cracked bamboo stick in one hand and had padding up his other arm for protection. Robin Locksley was not comfortable with this exercise at all and all but demanded that he was dressed in the full gear for minimal damage. Graham also had the arm padding to his arm and seemed the most eager to see what was about to happen.

The new pups were barking their mightiest barks at the sound of the cracking of bamboo from Killian. Emma hoped that their training was on track and that they were able to pass this test. She pulled at their leads in her right hand and extended her left to their noses with the stinky black singlet in her hand for them to get their senses one more time before she released them to obtain their goal. Emma let go on their leads and watched as their mission to take down the scent of one of the deputies clouded their minds. She smiled triumphally as they bounded their way over to the now scattering men. Killian ran sideways to his right, never taking sight off the hunters. Graham did the same but to his own left and laughed manically as he watched Robin run as fast as he could without looking back. At the same time as Robin falling over into a heap, the pups reached their destination of Killian Jones. They both pounced in unison and took hold of the padded arm. The dark haired deputy was quick at his thinking and reefed his arm out of the stuffing and let the pups have at it.

Emma jogged down towards the show. The pups tug-a-wared with their newest reward and had no interest in the Sheriff's instructions anymore and were set out to play. Killian and Graham were helping Robin back up to his feet once she approached them.

"That could not have turned out any better!" Emma said ecstatically.

"I gotta say, Sheriff," Killian began, "you've done a bloody fantastic job with training these little ones. They'll be ready for the field in no time."

"That's the plan. The sooner Bonnie can go into retirement the better," Emma said as she thought about her own dog. The 8 year old dog was beginning to really show her age. Her skills never faulted but her speed and stamina were really beginning to be more noticeable. She has worked hard her entire life, Emma thought she was well over due for retirement.

Emma and the men packed up their equipment and made their way back up to their vehicles. Emma watched how Killian and Graham laughed amongst themselves and couldn't help but think that it was a great idea to bring him back to the team. He was a great officer and had come leaps and bounds over the last few months since meeting his daughter. Alice and Killian were exactly what each other needed, and it was great to see someone else to get their own happy ending too.