Here it is, THE last chapter of this story! And possibly the longest chapter ever. But, I will have you know to all following me that I will be posting a new fanfic tomorrow... SURPRISE! ;) Thank you all so much who took the time to read this story and waited patiently for every single update. Thank you for all the feedback and followers. I hope you enjoy my next fic as well as this one. Stay tuned!
Regina was woken by a late knock at her door. As she gently got up from the couch where she had fallen asleep with Henry, she saw Robin dressed in his police uniform, waiting by the door.
As she held open the door, she sighed heavily, letting the man know of her aggravation from him showing up so late at her home.
"What do you want now, Robin? It's Sunday night." she informed him.
"I have to talk to you." Robin quickly replied.
"Can't this wait until tomorrow?" asked Regina.
"No, Regina. Look, this is just strictly police business." Robin assured her.
Regina chuckled, knowing well he was bluffing.
"Come on, Robin."
Soon after, Robin pulled out Regina's picture which had been in Emma's possession for the longest time.
Regina immediately took two steps closer towards Robin, keeping her eyes glued to the picture. Recognizing it right away.
"Where did you get that?" Regina asked in shock.
Robin welcomed himself into the house as he began to enter, closing the door behind him.
"Your girl Emma had it." He explained to her as he continued, "I take it you didn't give it to her."
Regina now had her picture in her possession. This was the picture she had given to her brother before he left to war. She wanted him to keep it with him at all times. How Emma came across it was beyond her. She needed answers.
"This was August's." Regina murmured as she sat down by the kitchen table, her eyes never leaving the picture.
Robin sighed as he took a seat next to her.
"She didn't wander into town by chance, Regina. She came here to find you. She was asking all around town for you, showing that picture to everybody." Robin told the brunette who was still sitting quietly in shock. "You know what they say about friendly fire…" he said.
Regina's gaze immediately went to Robin's, shaking her head, not believing for a second that Emma would be capable of such a thing.
"No…" she murmured.
Robin's hand went up in defense. "I'm not accusing anyone. I'm just saying that a girl like that… no friends, no people, just shows up here with something so personal? I mean, that doesn't seem right to me. I've seen stalkers, I know how they think and once they fixate on somebody, they're capable of anything."
Quickly after his little visit, Robin was driving away into the night, leaving Regina in complete shock and in question if Emma would be capable of such a monstrosity.
Emma came up running to the house, stopping dead in her tracks as she saw a cop car driving away.
It was then Emma knew she had been right. Robin took her photo and was sure that Regina knew about it by now.
Emma walked up to the house, knocking gently on the door as Regina's head popped up, turning over her shoulder to see her standing outside of the house.
Regina stood up, walking up towards Emma as she held up her picture in front of her for the blonde to see.
"Where did you get this?" asked the brunette. "This was August's. He took it everywhere with him. He told me."
"Regina, please listen to me." Emma quickly replied.
Regina's voice broke, "No, you listen to me. You didn't come here by accident. You came here to find me."
"I know I should have told you. I tried. I didn't know how." Emma replied.
"Try telling me now." Regina voiced in a whisper.
Emma gave her back to Regina, releasing a heavy sigh. She was glad this was finally out in the open; not that she was really trying to hide it, she just had no way of explaining how it is that that picture chose to be found by her. How is it that she saw it when no else did? It was still a mystery to the blonde herself.
"It was in the morning after a night raid. And I just found it." the blonde paused for a second, re-living that hot, deserted morning, "In the middle of nowhere. I tried to find out who lost it. I never stopped trying but nobody claimed it."
Regina then stepped outside the door, as Emma still with her back turned towards her took a few steps from the front porch.
"Finding something like that in a war… was like finding an angel in hell." Emma murmured as she continued, "So I kept it with me. Then I survived a lot of things. Things that I had no right to. I promised myself that if I made it out…" she turned her head, looking over her shoulder as her voice broke a little, "that I would find that girl and thank her… for saving my life. When other's weren't so lucky."
Emma turned to face Regina completely this time, as her hand caressed the dog tags that hung around her neck, remembering the moment her best friend died in war.
"How do you explain something that you can't even understand yourself?" she finished as she took a few steps towards Regina with frustration marked on her face.
Regina now had tears in her eyes.
"Understand this." She firmly spoke to Emma, as if Emma finding that picture was what got her brother killed, "This was August's. It was meant to keep him alive."
"I wish it had." Emma murmured looking into Regina's eyes. "I wish it had."
"You should go." replied Regina as she turned away from Emma, "Now."
Emma knew this would happen, she knew that whatever Robin said to her made her believe that maybe she had something to do with her brother's death. She didn't fight it. The last thing she ever wanted was to hurt the woman she loved most in this world - so she walked away.
Regina had no idea, but Henry had heard the whole thing between them. Henry was just a little boy, but he knew Emma well enough. So he took off running after her.
"Emma wait!" Henry shouted across the house, causing Emma to stop dead in her tracks.
As the boy reached Emma, he pressed his chess book to her chest, causing Emma to look down and smile at him.
"Aw, kid. Are you sure?" asked the blonde, knowing well Henry wanted her to have it.
"You need it more than I do." replied Henry as both stood there looking into each other's eyes.
Emma was going to miss him, no question.
"Take care of your mom, alright?" she said to Henry.
Henry launched towards the blonde giving her the tightest hug he had ever given. He didn't want Emma to go.
"I thought I was the person next to you." the boy murmured.
Emma broke their hug to look down at her dog tags, unhooking the black one from her necklace as she placed it in the boy's hands.
"You're my best buddy. I'll always be next to you." she nodded, giving the boy one last (this time sad smile) as she walked away.
"Tell Zeus I said bye." Henry said lastly as he took off running towards the house right after.
It was early morning, and Regina found herself by the docks in her father's fishing boat, she entered it only to discover the box of supplies Emma had been using to repair it.
She knew right away it was Emma who had been in here. She confirmed it when she lifted up the panel on the floor, seeing everything had been replaced. Even more confirmation once Regina turned on the boat, hearing the engine roar to life.
Was there seriously anything Emma couldn't fix? After so many years of not hearing this boat come to life - it finally happened.
This brought a smile to Regina's face. It meant so much to her that Emma would take her time to do this just for her.
That same day, Robin had started his drinking early. He was already in bad shape from one drink too many.
"I tried to warn her. I tried to tell her she was no good, she didn't want to listen to me." Robin told the bartender as he drank down another shot.
A hand slapped down on his shoulder, as a voice spoke, "Are you about ready to leave?"
Robin smiled at his friend Danny. "Hey."
He reached for his keys, but Danny beat him to it, "You aren't driving like that, bud."
Robin stood and allowed the man to take his keys as they left the bar.
As they were driving, Robin had been nodding off until he saw a familiar blonde with a red leather jacket walking by with a canine by her side.
"Hey. Hang on, stop the car." he said.
"You need to let it go." Danny told him.
Robin grew furious as he landed a punch on his friend's arm. "Stop the goddamn car!"
As the car came to a stop, Robin quickly stumbled out of the passenger side towards Emma, who turned to look at him, but she kept on walking.
"Hey, soldier girl." Robin snapped as Emma kept on walking, grabbing her by the arm to force her to stop and look at him. "Don't you walk away from me when I talk to you."
Zeus let out a few light barks at Robin, as Emma stood in silence.
She wanted nothing more than to punch his face in, but the man was drunk; whatever trouble he wanted there to be between them, Emma wasn't going to be the one to start it.
Robin then digged into the grocery paper bag Emma had been carrying, taking out an apple and biting into it. Emma just stood in attention as Robin mashed what was in his mouth, only to spit it back out directly into Emma's face.
"Robin, that's enough, man." Danny shouted, but it was as if Robin was deaf in that moment. All he cared about was putting Emma in her place for ever coming to this town.
"You have nothing to say for yourself?" Robin said to her, as Emma just turned to walk away.
Robin quickly grabbed her jacket and yanked her back around to face him, making the blonde drop her bag of groceries, and Zeus to bark even more.
"Zeus!" Emma said to her dog, trying to get him to calm down.
In the blink of an eye Robin took out his gun and aimed it at the canine, only causing him to bark more at Robin.
"Easy!" Emma shouted at Robin as he then aimed the gun directly at her as others around them ran away screaming bloody murder. "Easy." she told him in a softer tone of voice, as she held her hand up in front of her.
"Come on, Robin. Put it down!" Danny shouted over at the man.
Robin looked over at his friend, "Shut up!"
It was in that moment of distraction that Emma made her move, rapidly grabbing a hold of his weapon as she twisted his arm back and disarmed him, leaving Robin to scream in pain and Danny watching in shock at how fast she was.
Emma now aiming his weapon at Robin, as the man's eyes went wide as he held his arm that was in pain.
The blonde then aimed the weapon lower, only to disarm it just as fast as she took it from Robin; releasing the magazine from the handle and pulling on the slide of the weapon to release the remaining bullet that was in the barrel as it clinked on to the cement floor.
She calmly handed it to Danny who took it from her hands, her eyes never leaving Robin's
"You're not a bad guy, Robin." Emma assured the man, who with the shock of everything that had happened had lost his buzz.
Leaving it at that, Emma calmly walked away with Zeus following behind.
Late at night, Robin had visited his father to tell him at what had happened with Emma. Which his father pulling a few strings on, it was just going to be another incident the people will soon forget. It'll all blow over, he repeated to him.
Robin always knew that what his father really cared most about was his election as mayor to the town. Even before his own family.
Robin had had enough. Before his father even realized he had left the house, leaving his police badge on top of his pool table.
The rain had picked up by that night, by then Regina had filled her grandmother in everything that had happened with Emma and her picture.
Eugenia of course didn't think Emma was at fault at all.
"You're not the only one whose life got better when she came here. You might not believe it, but I think she was meant to find that photo." the older woman said as she sat plates down on the table for dinner.
Regina slammed the knife down on the cutting board in anger, "Right! Of course! It was all part of a plan. None of us are in control of anything that happens. It's all down to fate."
Eugenia grew upset then at how, in some way Regina was blaming Emma forever finding her picture.
"Well, you call it what you want, but I think it happened for a reason." the older woman said to her, not backing down from what she believed.
Regina's eyes soon filled with tears, as her voice broke when she spoke, "So you're saying… August died so that Emma could live."
Eugenia shook her head, pulling her granddaughter into a tight hug.
"No, honey. It's not Emma's fault that she survived." she murmured, as everything finally made sense. It wasn't so much Regina blamed Emma, but the death of her brother was still fresh and it hurt her deeply.
She understood Regina's pain. It hurt her too. August was Regina's other half, her best friend and ever since the news of his death, she couldn't understand how so many soldiers couldn't make it home safely when others did have that luck.
Emma was one of those soldiers, and for that Regina was taking it out on her to help with her pain as well. Why is that she went through all those tragedies out there and still made it out alive and August couldn't?
In that moment, Emma was packing her things from her home to leave first thing in the morning. She smiled as she picked up the book Henry had gifted to her. As she flipped through the pages she came across a picture of Henry with his uncle August.
The man had his arm wrapped around his nephew, both sporting the widest of smiles.
Emma recognized him right away. He was who they called Pinocchio.
Emma stood from her bed where she had been sitting, and walked towards her front door, "Zeus, stay here. I'll be right back." she ordered her canine.
Robin was soaked in pouring rain as he walked up to Regina's house, making his way inside as if he still lived there.
Regina and her grandmother turned to look at him in surprise, as they were in the kitchen.
"Robin? What are you doing here?" Regina asked, as Robin just walked up to the plates still on the dinner table.
"I always loved these plates." was all he said, as he held a plate in his hands.
"What do you want, Robin?" Eugenia asked the man who was obviously intoxicated again.
Robin took a few steps towards Regina. "I just want us to be a family again. Please. Can we be a family again? I can change. I have, I've changed." he pleaded the brunette, as Eugenia moved towards the living room area to close the door so Henry wouldn't hear what was happening.
Robin gently grabbed onto Regina's arm. "I can make you happy, Regina. I can, I can make you happy again." he assured her.
Eugenia stood against the doorway quietly, as Henry left his toys to look through the glass door at what was going on in the kitchen.
Regina then reached for his hand that was on her arm, removing it slowly.
"Robin. I know you care about Henry… but it's not going to happen for us. You have to let it go." She told the man as she looked him straight in the eye and took the plate away from his other hand.
Robin's eyes became a darker shade of blue as he wasn't happy to hear those words come out of Regina's mouth.
"Let it go. Why should I let it go?" he asked, as he turned to look at Eugenia as he just chuckled; looking back at Regina. "All right," he nodded at her. "Maybe I should just take Henry with me now. Take him away for good. Can't say I didn't warn you."
Regina began feeling worried for Henry's safety as Robin turned away to look in another room of the house for his son.
"In fact, why don't I just take him right now. Where is he? Henry?" as he saw Henry make a run for it from the living room area, both Regina and Robin began to follow him.
Regina ran into the living room area, as Robin ran after the boy as soon as he saw him running away into the rain.
"Henry! Come back here!" he shouted as he continued to run after his son.
Eugenia who was standing outside the porch shouted to Robin, "He's heading for the tree house!"
Robin ran as fast as his legs could take him through the woods, finding it hard to see in the pouring rain.
As he spotted Henry crossing the bridge, as the wood began cracking underneath him, he shouted now worried for his son's safety, "Henry, come back here! It's too dangerous out there!"
Soon after Regina ran out of the house with a flashlight in search for Henry and Robin.
"Regina!" Emma shouted at her as she wondered what was going on.
"Go with her, Emma!" Eugenia shouted to the blonde.
Emma didn't think twice as she took off running after Regina. If she needed any kind of help, Emma wanted to be there.
Henry was standing on that wet old bridge feeling scared now, as he looked over at his frightened father.
"Henry, come on! Just walk back to me!" he shouted to the boy, who was still too scared to move.
As Henry tried to move, he felt more and more scared as the boards underneath him began to creak more and more.
"I can't dad! It's too shaky!" Henry shouted.
"Just wait right there, I'm coming to you!" Robin assured him as he made his way onto the bridge carefully.
The rain was coming down harder, which made the water underneath the bridge to start raising and flowing faster.
"Dad, I'm scared!" Henry cried out as he saw the water become furious underneath him.
Robin tried to hurry, but still moved carefully on the bridge. As he stepped onto a wood from the bridge, he heard a loud cracking sound as his foot fell down, causing him to grab a hold of the ropes that were holding the bridge together.
Until even the rope couldn't hold on any longer, as it snapped, causing a side of the bridge to break off, leaving Henry hanging from the ropes as his little hands held on for dear life.
"Dad! Help me!" Henry shouted, feeling terrified at this point.
"Henry, hold on!" Robin shouted.
Regina was running as fast as she could towards the screams that were now being heard, with Emma not far behind.
Robin had never been more scared than he was in that very moment, as he heard his son scream for his help, he felt helpless that he couldn't move due to his foot being stuck on that bridge.
"Dad, I'm slipping!" Henry shouted, pleading him to help.
"Just hold on tight, Henry!" Robin shouted as he struggled to get his leg free.
A loud crack and snapping sound was heard once again as the bridge then collapsed into the ruthless water, taking Henry and dragging Robin along with it.
Henry held on to the rest of the bridge as the water dragged him to the side of the tree house.
"Henry, just hang on!" Robin shouted as his leg continued to be stuck on the other end of the bridge.
"I can't, dad!" shouted Henry, but as frightened as he was he held on; even as the tree house beneath him began to shake.
Robin then swam as quickly as he could to his son despite his leg still being caught with the other end of the bridge.
"I got you, Henry! I need you to let go and grab onto me!" he assured his son as he held on to him.
"I can't!" Henry told him, tears running down his eyes along with rain water.
"You can! Just hold onto me!" Robin assured his boy.
"Oh, God!" was all Regina could shout as she came up to the horrifying scene of Robin with Henry.
"Henry!" shouted the blonde as she quickly made her way into the water and began swimming towards them.
As Robin looked over to see Emma swimming near them, he then shouted, "Emma! Emma, I need your help!"
Henry was shouting to his mom as he saw her standing there shouting back for him, fearing for his safety and everyone else that was in that water.
Emma swam with all her might until she reached Henry and Robin.
"Go with Emma!" the man shouted to his son as he handed Henry over to Emma, "Take him! My leg is caught, just take him." he said to Emma, only worried about his son's safety.
"I'll come back for you." Emma assured Robin as she quickly swam back with Henry in her arms.
Henry shouted to his father who was still trapped in the water, with the treehouse now falling, plank by plank above him.
"Henry!" Regina shouted as she reached out to take her son from Emma's arms.
"I'm going back for Robin." Emma told Regina, but it was too late.
A scream was heard coming from Robin as the tree house completely fell onto him as soon as Emma turned to swim back, killing him instantly.
Regina held her son tightly to her, shielding his eyes from the horrifying scene as she cried along with her son.
Regina and Henry had gone home, as Emma stayed behind with the police and Robin's father to explained what had happened, as well as give her condolences to the man for losing his son.
Regina was in her son's bed comforting Henry after the night they had just experienced.
"Did they find my dad yet?" was the boy could ask, as a knock at the door sounded.
Eugenia quickly went downstairs to let Emma inside the ouse.
"How's Henry doing? Does he know yet?" she asked the older woman.
"No." she shook her head. Nor her or Regina had the courage to tell Henry that his father was dead. It was no easy task telling a small boy such news. "Poor Robin."
"I wish I could have done more." was all Emma could say.
Eugenia hugged her tightly, seeing she felt bad for what had happened to him.
"You did a wonderful thing. You and Robin both, did a wonderful thing." the woman assured her as she look at Emma one more time. "I'll go get Regina." she told her, heading back upstairs.
Emma took a seat to wait patiently, setting the picture of Henry and August down on the dining room table.
Emma soon stood to her feet as Regina entered the room.
"Thank you." Regina said, looking into those familiar green eyes.
"I came back because I found this in the book that Henry gave me." Emma replied as she pushed the photo across the table for Regina to get a better look.
As Regina took a step forward, staring down at the picture of her goofy brother and her son, Emma pressed on, "That's your brother, August, isn't it?"
Regina nodded, murmuring a soft, "Yeah." in reply.
"I know what happened to him." Emma continued as Regina stood in shock, "I was there."
"What do you mean that you were there?" Regina asked, ready to listen to the soldier's story.
"Our platoons crossed paths during the night raid. We were ambushed. There was this sergeant that they called 'Pinocchio'. One of his men got hit. He didn't think about himself for one second, he just took care of his man. And then I found your picture the next morning in the rubble outside. He must've lost it on the way in."
Regina's mouth was parted open to the blonde's story as she had to sit down from the surprise of it.
"I know I made it hard for you to believe the truth and I'm sorry for a lot of things, but nothing more than that." as the blonde began to walk away as the brunette's eyes followed every movement Emma made; Emma looked over to Regina for the last time, "I just wanted you to know that he didn't die for nothing."
And just like that Emma walked out, leaving Regina alone with her thoughts of how everything came together.
The sun was just out as Emma was walking down the road, away from the house. Even if no longer had Regina's picture to keep with her she would keep every smile, every look, every kiss they ever exchanged close to her heart.
"Emma, wait!" a familiar voice shouted from a distance, as Emma turned around to a familiar brunette running towards her.
Regina had made the mistake of thinking wrongly about someone she loved. She knew when she was wrong, and she wasn't afraid to admit it.
Truth is, she loved Emma and she couldn't let her leave out of her life or Henry's just like that.
Regina stopped in front of Emma, looking deeply into her eyes, the sun hitting her just the way Regina grew to love it, making her look just as beautiful as when they first met.
"Don't go." Regina's voice pleaded.
Emma had nothing to think about. She needed her too.
As the blonde's arms opened wide, Regina quickly ran into them, holding the woman into a tight hug as if they were magnets being drawn to each other.
"You belong here with us." Regina whispered as Emma closed her eyes, wanting to savor this moment with the woman that had captured her heart in the middle of a war with just her smile.
Both women looked at each other, as Emma gently brushed streaks of black hair away from Regina's face as her lips pressed onto hers in a soft kiss.
Another year had passed and things couldn't be better.
For Henry's birthday they decided to try out the fishing boat, which Henry got to steer as Emma and Regina relaxed out on deck.
Thanks to that picture Emma had found a home, she now had a son who like his mom meant the world to her. She had a family of her own.
Everyone has their own destiny. Not everyone chooses the follow it.
Emma was lucky she did.