Glamour of Truth 19

A/N: Sorry again for the wait, I had about 3/4 of this written for ages and then hit massive writer's block for the rest. It is sad for me to end this story but this will be the last chapter. It is much longer than most chapters so I hope that makes up for it a little! And this chapter contains something light and fluffy... pun intended. You'll see ;).

Thankyou to everyone who read, followed, and reviewed this story! I had such fun writing it and talking with my amazing readers. Thanks to those who asked for this little 'one-shot' to be continued :) because I wouldn't have thought to do it otherwise. If you like the style and Swan Queen, I also have some other multi-chapter stories going at the moment: Flu Love's Kiss and Double Trouble. Enjoy!

"Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end."

-John Lennon

"Henry i's way past your bedtime. C'ya hurry it up, kid?" said Emma sleepily.

"I think he's already asleep, Emma," whispered Mary Margaret. She and her daughter were the only ones still awake (barely) with David and Henry snoozing against each other's shoulders at the other end of the couch.

It was late, sometime after midnight at Mary Margaret's apartment. They'd sat up to watch a movie on Emma's laptop but none of them had paid much attention to it, instead laughing and talking as a family until they'd lost track of time. Regina had said she would be over late but never specified what time so Emma was making a valiant effort at staying up. She'd been chatting with Mary Margaret but even so her eyes were starting to droop.

Emma and Regina were together now but taking small steps at a time. They both knew where they wanted things to go but a lot had happened between them and around them so there was plenty to talk through while they worked it out. They hadn't really told anyone about the change yet but obviously Mary Margaret knew - not because Emma explicitly said so but because she always knew everything. What was obvious to her wasn't as obvious to the others though - apparently they hadn't put two-and-two together why Emma didn't come home some nights.

Neither of them had been in a relationship before - not a real one that had a chance of lasting anyway. There was so much at stake now, they already shared a child and there was a lot of crap in the past that always threatened to rise up like smoke to choke them. Emma's support of Regina's continual efforts at redemption was a burden that was becoming lighter every day though. Things were changing for the better... and it all hung on Emma's trust. But even that heavy load was starting to feel as natural as air to them.

Predictably, they had fought and tiffed already. Like always, there only needed to be a spark between them for a fight to burst aflame. Then Emma had accused Regina of starting crap on purpose and said that she didn't need to put her promise to the test. It was going to stand. She'd called it "going all-in" and that putting everything on the line meant it was guaranteed that they always had to move forward. After that Regina couldn't keep a straight face enough to fight any longer, so the snarks and blows became touches and kisses, and for the first time one of their fights ended far more pleasurably.

They were going to grow to be a family. To have a life of their own. The past no longer had any hold on them.

There was a soft knock at the door to the apartment.

"s'open," Emma called, expecting it to be Regina finally, but in her sleep-fogged state she was confused why the brunette didn't simply come in.

When there was no answer Mary Margaret got up to check and opened the door. She eyed something at shoe-level with a wonderful smile.

"Emma, I think it's for you," said Mary Margaret enigmatically.

Groaning tiredly, Emma joined her at the door. Taking one look at the floor she peered at her mother with one bleary eye. There was a little pure-white fluffy rabbit with lop-ears sitting outside the door watching them with curious blinking eyes.

"Okaaay, either I'm already dreaming… or a white rabbit really did just knock on our door," said Emma.

"It's so adorable!" Mary Margaret cooed, her voice about two octaves higher than normal.

"Easy," warned Emma. "Step away from the woodland creature, Snow White."

Mary Margaret gave her a look. "It's just a bunny. Look it's got something under it's paw..."

Emma knelt down to retrieve a small envelope about the size of a business card from underneath the rabbit's foot. The rabbit, apparently having fulfilled it's mail duty, hopped away down the hall.

"Uh, should we go after that thing?" said Emma.

Mary Margaret chuckled. "You mean, should we follow the white rabbit? What's in the envelope, hurry up, I want to know."

"Hold ya horses," grumbled Emma, pulling the card out. "Uh, it's... oh, it looks like an invitation. Kinda."

Un-birthday Party

When: Today

Time: Midnight

Where: You know where

"It doesn't say who it's addressed to?" said Mary Margaret, hovering over her shoulder.

"No." Emma frowned, but right at that moment new words magically appeared in gold on the card.

Who: All of you

"Guess that answers that," said Mary Margaret, seemingly nonplussed by the apparent magic.

Emma's mouth curled up in a one-sided grin. "Yes, and it also answers who's behind this."

Emma pulled her phone out of the pocket of her pyjamas and tapped the screen to make the call. The person on the other end answered sounding slightly out of breath.

"Hey, you wanna explain?" said Emma lightly.

"I thought the details were rather self-explanatory."

"Okay, assuming I go along with this..." Emma paused to check her watch. "It's 12.20. According to the invitation this party has already started."

"Then you are already late."

A grin broke over Emma's face slowly and she hung up.

"Henry! Henry! Wake up, kid. We're late...!"

After waking Henry and David, the four of them donned shoes and coats and then squished into Emma's Bug for the short drive over to Mifflin Street.

"Um, this invitation is really weird..." said Henry, trying to read the card in the dim light of the street lights as they passed. "We're wearing our pyjamas to a party?"

"Just go with it, buddy," said David, ruffling the boy's hair.

"I have a feeling it's gonna be that sort of party, kid," laughed Emma from the driver's seat.

David and Mary Margaret were acting like co-conspirators in on the secret, the way parents went along with the mystery of Santa Claus just to bring light to children's eyes. David tried not to focus on thinking about the dearth of fantasy in Emma's childhood but he reminded himself wryly that she was certainly making up for it now by living in a magical town full of fairytale characters. He hadn't missed the way that Emma seemed to be just as excited about the party as Henry, if not more.

Emma parked in the driveway to 108 hastily and was out of the car like a shot, racing Henry to the front door of the house. Before they could knock, the door swung open by itself and the white rabbit appeared. Apparently it had beat them all the way across town.

"Cool!" said Henry.

"Hi, again," said Emma, to what she assumed was the same creature.

The rabbit crinkled it's nose and allowed Henry to pick it up.

"Uh, Regina? We're here," called Emma, as the four of them gathered in the entryway but there was no sign of the brunette.

"Mom!" Henry called to the apparently empty house. "Mo-oom?"

"It's a trap," Emma concluded jokingly. "She's lured us here to poison us all at once."

The rabbit in Henry's arms gave the blonde a disdainful stare. When Emma looked closely she saw a little cut near it's nose and leaped back comically.

"Ohhhmygod. Henry put your Mom down!" Emma shrieked.

Henry gave her a crazy look and bent to place the rabbit on the ground. The creature hopped once and then transformed into a 5"4' cloud of swirling black smoke. Standing where the white rabbit had been moments before was Regina. She was wearing white satin pyjamas with a dark grey winter robe belted around her middle.

"Sorry I'm late," said Regina smoothly.

"But wha- gah," Emma sputtered gobsmacked, as her parents failed to hide their laughter at her reaction.

"That was pretty funny," decided David.

"And slightly unnerving," said Mary Margaret.

"Not the words I would've used," muttered Emma, recovering slightly but glad to see her all the same.

"Mom! Mom! What else can you do?" said Henry, keen to see some tricks. "Can you do a shark!"

"It takes a bit of study to transform to another animal. And I'm not used to being something so... benign as a rabbit," said Regina.

"Er, do I even want to know what animal you usually favour?" asked Emma, but all she got for an answer was an enigmatic show of pearly white teeth.

Regina led the four of them into the formal dining room where her usual dark wooden table setting remained, topped with a mad array of mismatched coloured tea cups (some of them broken) and a silver tea service. All of the serving trays, however, were entirely empty of any food.

"Take a seat, but don't get too comfortable," warned Regina.

Once they sat down, the table and all of the chairs along with their seated occupants rose to hover in the air a few feet off the ground. Of course, that meant that the table tilted dangerously causing the tea things to slide randomly. Henry's face was full of wondrous amazement and the others laughed happily at the floating enchantment. Henry and Emma had had the least exposure to magic so they were the most taken by the magic of the party.

The serving trays suddenly filled up with an array of cakes and piles of sweet things. Henry and Mary Margaret spied the cinnamon tarts and bit into them with glee.

"Pass the tea, please Emma," asked Regina innocently.

Emma reached for the teapot without looking and her hand grasped empty air. Frowning, she tried again and saw the teapot stand up on it's little legs and walk out of her reach in a huff.

"Very funny. Why is it doing that?" said Emma, with something like a pout.

"I haven't the slightest idea," said Regina.

The party got underway and all of them dug into the midnight treats. Every now and again the chairs would decide it was time to move on and tipped their occupants onto the ground so they could move one place left. Regina of course slid gracefully out of her chair whereas Emma's chair practically threw her out and she landed on the floor on her ass.

"Regina! Your party is being hostile to me," complained Emma, rubbing her flannel-covered butt.

When they took their places again, Emma rocked her floating chair trying to convince it to move closer to Regina so they could talk.

"You know, since you're unemployed now... you could totally get a gig doing children's parties," said Emma.

At the look she was given, Emma went on teasing. "Come on, or maybe you could be an event planner. You have heaps of experience planning things... okay, mostly evil schemes but still."

Regina sat there and listened with amusement as Emma continued to chatter about random things with a huge smile on her face.

"Hey, guess what. Alice in Wonderland was my favourite book as a kid."

"Really."

"Yeah," said Emma happily. "I have this old battered copy that I got from one of those charity toy drives they do at Christmas time. One of the teachers at the group home I was at used to help me read it. I used to love the Cheshire cat and all the nonsense. The gloss has gone off the Jabberwocky a bit now though after having it chase my ass around the woods and nearly getting incinerated."

"I think Henry's really having a great time," said Emma, watching Henry and David have a little food-fight using eclairs for swords. "Doesn't he look happy?"

"Yes, very happy," said Regina, but she wasn't looking at her son.

"I think I've lost the 'Cool Mom' title. When you want to, you can be so-"

Emma trailed off. They were both reminded of the state of Regina and Henry's relationship when Emma had turned up in Storybrooke. Though she had loved him she hadn't always shown it well.

"I haven't always been a good mother to Henry," admitted Regina quietly.

"Hey, neither have I... But we'll probably have this parenting thing figured out by the time he's 18 right? Just in time for the next kid," joked Emma.

Green eyes met brown and their gaze held for a few beats.

"Happy un-birthday, Emma," said Regina suddenly, reaching for her hand underneath the table.

"I guess it's all our un-birthdays isn't it?" said Emma with a grin, munching on another cinnamon tart. "Happy un-birthday to you too."

The party wound down rather quickly after everyone had had enough fun with the treats. It was well after midnight and Henry was fighting sleepiness, half laying his head down on the table. Every now and again he'd wake himself up, determined not to miss anything. After his head landed in a piece of cake, Regina declared the party over for him and marched the sleepy boy upstairs to bed.

Mary Margaret and David took the opportunity to head off. At the door, Emma continued to talk to them about how great the party was.

"Did you see Henry's face when he fell in that cake? Lucky kid, getting a magic tea party!" said Emma.

Mary Margaret tilted her head at her daughter quizzically. "Emma. Wonderland is your favourite book, not Henry's. Regina knows that."

"Huh?"

"The party was for you, Emma." Mary Margaret smiled at her and sighed at having to explain.

Emma closed the door on them and bolted up the stairs, taking two at a time. She swung herself around the doorjamb through Regina's bedroom door and stopped with a comical skid. She was out of breath by the time she spoke.

"You gave me a party? The party was for me!"

Regina, who was halfway through turning down the bed, gave Emma an amused look when she came running in.

"You - you used magic to do something nice. To give me something I've never had!"

"Yes, dear. Since I ruined your actual day of birth I only thought it fair."

Emma's excitement fell a little, seeing that Regina was clearly bothered by something. She wondered if all the Wonderland stuff had reminded her of the recent loss of her mother or if there was something else.

Regina went back to her task a little uncomfortable not only because of the fact that she had done something nice but because that had been a surprise to everyone. It chagrined her to be thanked for such a small thing when it did little to make up for what she had done at the height of her revenge especially since her malevolence had directly impinged upon the happiness of the one she now held dear.

It was so confusing emotionally to think about because if she hadn't cast the curse then their lives would have been very different. Emma would have been raised by loving parents instead of dragging herself up. She'd be a different person really and almost certainly would never have become connected romantically to Regina. The what-if's could send your mind around the bend...

Their current happiness was all due to her own hateful actions and now that she was able to see it clearly, she couldn't resolve the dissonance. She wondered how others could overlook the fact that she was profiting from her own malfeasance. Most of all, she wondered how Emma could forgive her let alone love her.

But whenever Emma caught her thinking along these lines she'd remind her of moving forward instead of fixating on the past which no-one could do anything about.

"You've got that look on your face, Regina."

"What look?"

"That 'I'm obsessing over the past' look. We've talked about this..."

Emma gave her a small smile. "I am kinda glad to see it because it means you do feel regret - it's natural to feel that way - but don't fall so far into it that it eats you up alive ok? Guilt takes over you just like revenge if you let it."

"Still trying to save me aren't you," said Regina wryly.

"Get used to it. Cos I'm never gonna stop," Emma teased back.

Emma made her way over to Regina and grabbed her away from fussing with the linen any longer. She unbelted Regina's robe so she could put her arms around her waist feeling through the satin. Emma placed a tiny kiss on her nose and grinned in amusement because the light touch really did make it twitch - a residue of the earlier magic.

"By the way, you make a cute rabbit but seriously? If I wake up one day and there's some weird animal in that bed instead of you-"

"Are you sure you don't want me to use magic?" Regina gave her a mock-innocent face. "You've seen my glamour... I can make myself look like anyone you choose."

"Why would I even want that?" Emma laughed at how absurd that was.

"Even yourself?"

Emma's mouth dropped open and she couldn't believe she'd heard Regina even suggest that as a joke.

"I-" Emma gaped.

"I do enjoy leaving you speechless, dear. It's rather amusing."

Regina initiated the kiss, taking advantage of the moment by capturing Emma's lips and the words that had evaporated there. But Emma responded quickly, opening up to deepen the kiss further. She felt Regina's hands cup her face so she raised her own to thread fingers through silky dark hair as they kissed. When she drew back, she felt a thrill seeing Regina's eyes darken knowingly and saw that she was slightly breathless as well.

"Now who's speechless." Emma smirked.

"Emma. It feels different," said Regina with a quiet vulnerability.

"My hair? Yeah, I know. I curled it and messed it up again."

"No," Regina sighed with impatience. "I didn't mean your precious hair. I meant magic."

"I know what you meant," Emma said, kissing her cheekbone softly. "How does it feel now?"

"It's hard to explain," started Regina. "It used to pull me in... like I could only control it by giving in to it. But now..."

"You feel free of it's hold?"

Regina nodded almost imperceptibly. "I feel like I don't need it."

Emma's face crumpled in joy near tears and she wrapped her arms around Regina in a tight hug. She couldn't even put into words how happy she was to hear that someone so important to her, someone so close to her heart, was going to be ok. That after everything she had been through and had endured, and after all the people who had betrayed her trust and led her onto a dark lonely path... she was going to make it through it all. Freeing herself day by day from her past and exchanging loneliness for the happiness that comes from loving others well.

"We should tell Henry soon," suggested Regina.

Emma felt her hesitation though. "You're not worried about that are you? Cos I think he already knows..."

"He does?"

Emma rolled her eyes lightly. "Yes. The kid knows everything, I think he knew before I did. Pretty sure he's only slightly thrilled to bits. He asked me if we were going to get our happy ending."

"And what did you tell him."

"I told him the story's not over till we do."

Regina smiled, a real one full of happiness, and Emma kissed her again, joining their smiles together.