She jerked and gasped and a sheen of sweat coated her forehead, chest, arms, and lower back. She felt hot, blazing hot, and she needed it to stop. She needed it all to stop.

She screamed and popped up, fully awake as she bolted upright with startled, wide eyes. A few seconds passed as she breathed heavily before Regina whimpered then shook with silent sobs.

There was movement next to her on the bed and Regina looked over to see Emma sit up beside her. A hand was on her back in seconds and she noticeably relaxed under the touch.

"Hey, what's wrong," Emma asked and rubbed her hand up and down the other woman's back over and over again.

"A nightmare," Regina confessed. "I had a nightmare."

"About your mom?"

Regina nodded.

Emma scooted forward to be shoulder to shoulder with the brunette and dipped her hand under the hem of Regina's borrowed shirt. She leaned in and rested her chin on the woman's shoulder.

"I can't tell you it was just a bad dream or that it'll all be okay, but we'll do everything we can to stop her. We won't let her hurt anyone and I won't let her hurt you anymore. And I dare her to come after Henry."

"And who's going to protect you from her when you're busy playing hero?"

"Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself. Remember?"

"Not against her," Regina sternly insisted.

Footsteps hurried up the stairs and soon Emma and Regina were interrupted by Henry. Charming was close behind him.

"Mom?"

Emma sat up straighter, her chin no longer on Regina's shoulder but she remained close and kept her hand on Regina's heated back.

"What happened," Charming quickly asked, sword in hand as he stood at the top of the stairs behind Henry. "Is it Cora?"

"She's not here," Emma told them and watched Charming walk up to stand beside Henry. "There's no immediate danger."

"I'm sorry I woke you," Regina apologized directly to Henry and only spared a quick glance at Charming without the sentiment behind the apology, though she certainly gave it to her son.

Then it truly became a family affair when Snow joined them all in the loft.

"What was that scream," Snow, acting more like Mary Margaret, asked.

Regina looked down at her lap and a flash of embarrassment crossed over her features before anger and defensiveness replaced it.

Emma noticed it immediately and dropped her hand lower on Regina's back. She slowly, subtly rubbed circles on the other woman's back beneath the waistband of her borrowed shorts just above the swell of Regina's ass.

Regina's beneath hitched, but only Emma saw it happen.

Regina leaned into Emma's side ever so slightly.

"Nothing. It's fine. Don't worry about it," Emma protected Regina's privacy.

"Are you sure," David asked and took a step closer to the bed.

"Yeah. Go back to sleep," Emma dismissively said to the couple then softened when she looked at Henry.

No one moved for a long moment. Emma glared at Mary Margaret and David, but Henry grabbed her attention again a few seconds later.

Their son bolted across the room and jumped onto the bed. He crawled into the small space between the two women and looked at Emma before he turned his attention to Regina. He stared at her with wide, serious eyes as he searched hers for even a hint of truth about what had roused them all from sleep in the middle of the night. He easily found a good enough answer in her apologetic expression in almost no time at all.

Without a word, Henry leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Regina's neck as he hugged her. He felt her sigh and decompress due to the embrace. He remained completely silent while they hugged, her arms around his back only a moment after he'd initiated the hug. A few more seconds passed before he pulled away and looked at her again. And again, he said nothing. The hug and his understanding were enough.

Before Henry slid off the bed, he looked at Emma. "Thank you," he said with complete sincerity.

The corners of Emma's lips twitched up in the briefest flash of a smile. He'd appreciated her help with Regina before so she knew his gratitude came from him knowing she was helping again.

"Of course," Emma replied then looked at Regina for a moment before she turned her attention back to Henry. "Always."

Regina closed a fist around the back of Emma's shirt after she heard the promise the blonde made that caused Henry to smile before he then crawled off the bed once and for all. She glanced over at Snow and Charming and could tell they weren't pleased. Charming even glared at Regina's hand as it creased Emma's shirt, not that he could tell from where he stood, but he at least saw that Regina dared to grab at her while they shared a bed when the younger woman's parents had made it abundantly clear how they felt about the two of them together.

"We're fine," Emma insisted again when Henry was the only one to go back downstairs. "Go back to sleep."

Her tone left no room for argument even though she technically had no authority over her parents. They seemed to respect her and her decision to handle the situation on her own, however, when they slowly, slowly went back down to the first floor of the apartment.

Once no one else was around again, Emma leaned over and draped herself over one of Regina's sides. Her eyes slipped closed when she felt Regina relax her grip on her shirt and slide her hand up the blonde's back. She took a deep breath as Regina's light, gentle touch left goosebumps behind the path her fingers traveled up her spine.

"Thank you," Regina finally, quietly said.

Emma hummed and then dropped a kiss onto the brunette's shoulder. She hesitated as she considered her next move. When she did, she kissed Regina's neck below her ear. She moved further upward and kissed the other woman's cheek.

Regina exhaled with relief and closed her eyes. She slowly started to fall onto her back, almost ready for sleep once again. Her hand slipped down Emma's back before she hooked an arm around the blonde's waist and carefully pulled Emma down onto the bed with her, although Emma had already started to do so on her own.

Emma sandwiched Regina's arm betwen the bed and her body as she laid on top of it, but Regina fixed the problem soon enough when she tugged the woman onto her side. Emma rolled over and faced Regina, her front flush against Regina's side while she laid half on top of the brunette.

"Do you mean it," Regina quietly, almost timidly, asked.

"Mean what?"

"Always. Are you always going to be here?"

"Yes."

Regina's chest heaved with the force of her sharp inhale and Emma moved with the other woman's chest for a moment. Regina locked eyes with Emma and swallowed loudly in the silent, dark but still partially moonlit room.

"The nightmare wasn't just about my past with my mother," Regina admitted after a moment. "I watched her kill you."

"I already told you that's not going to happen."

"Don't be stupid when it comes to going up against her. Just…don't let her near you or Henry."

"I already told you that, too. Regina—" Emma tried to smile, but Regina cut her off before she could make light of the situation.

"No. Losing either of you is worse than anything she could do to me. If you get yourself killed, so help me, Emma, I will perform a séance and yell at you as many times as I need to until you understand how badly you hurt me by leaving me."

"Okay," Emma firmly agreed. "I won't leave you. Not because of Cora, not for any reason. As for your mother, she can't touch this."

Emma pointed at herself and grinned before she started to sing the melody to "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer. She even wiggled around on top of Regina when she sang it and after a second or two, Regina laughed.

Emma smiled brighter when she wrapped up the song and stopped wiggling. She stared down at Regina for a while and mapped out her face, her expression, her dark eyes, her soft and plump lips.

"Are you sure you haven't put a spell on me," Emma throatily teased.

"I thought we already had this discussion. Why are you asking me that again?"

"Because I'm completely mesmerized by you," Emma replied as her eyes darted back and forth as she continued to stare at Regina.

"You can't tell me that," Regina said as her eyes wandered from Emma's gaze down to the woman's lips.

"Why not?"

"It makes me want to kiss you even though we shouldn't."

"Who said we shouldn't?"

"You."

"I'm an idiot," Emma said as she slowly started to lean in.

"While I agree with you, we both know you were right to stop us the last time we tried this."

"Things have changed."

"Emma—"

"Regina." Emma stopped, her lips one small movement away from pressing against the brunette's. "Kiss me."

Emma lifted a hand and ran it through the other woman's hair as she tucked it behind her ear.

"Kiss me," Emma repeated in a whisper. "Let everything else fall away and kiss me."

Regina caught her breath a second before she stretched up and closed the small distance that remained between their mouths. Her lips molded with Emma's in a soft but immediately deep kiss.

Emma curved her back and pressed her lower half further onto Regina as her upper back curled into an partial "C" shape. She dipped her head to keep their lips connected while the rest of her body fluidly rolled against the woman underneath her. She broke the kiss after another moment due to the way she moved and Regina hesitantly smiled up at her.

She gently nudged Emma off of her and rolled onto her side, her back to the blonde. She reached behind herself and grabbed Emma's arm then pulled it across her waist. She moved back so she could feel Emma pressed up against her and snuggled into the embrace.

Regina turned her head to look up again at Emma. She leaned back and pecked Emma on the lips. As she made herself comfortable again then closed her eyes and slowly started to drift off, Emma nuzzled her nose into the crook of Regina's neck. Only then did everything else fall away and leave them to a peaceful slumber.

Morning thankfully didn't come too early for them. Sun streamed through window, high enough in the sky for Regina to ascertain it was at least after eight as she gradually started to wake. She blinked and rubbed away the sleep from her eyes while she felt a warmth caused not only by the sheets that wrapped around her. That warmth made the morning a good morning for her and it had barely even started.

She stretched out while she continued to lay on the bed and a moment later she realized part of the warmth she felt was on her bare skin, high up under her shirt. She furrowed her brow and looked down to see Emma's arm hidden beneath the V-neck, the younger woman's hand just below her braless breast. Under the covers, the shirt Regina wore had mostly ridden up when she'd stretched and the bed sheets were the only thing to hide the position of Emma's hand.

Somehow during sleep, Regina ended up with one of Emma's legs wedged between both of hers and a hand up her shirt. She felt Emma's breath puff against her shoulder and she turned her head to look at the blonde as she continued to sleep.

"Really, dear," Regina rhetorically asked with a raspy voice, still a little gravelly from sleep, as she laid on her back and glared at the woman.

Almost as if to spite Regina's disapproval, Emma shifted to make herself comfortable after Regina's earlier stretching repositioned her just enough to make it hard to stay asleep that way. She extended her leg further across the bed, which pushed it further between Regina's legs, while her hand skated up and over an uncovered nipple.

Regina gasped and her body instinctively arched into the touch. One of Regina's legs was draped over Emma's lower back and her delightful, round ass. The blonde was on her stomach beside Regina while Regina remained on her back and for a very long moment, Regina wondered how it was they almost always managed to get themselves into similar positions whenever they shared a bed.

She placed a hand on top of the sheets over Emma's hand beneath her shirt and started to pull the younger woman's hand away from her breast when she heard footsteps approach. She immediately let go of Emma's hand and sighed. It was better to stay in that position than to have whoever it was see her try to readjust it.

"Mom?"

Henry appeared at the top of the stairs a couple of seconds later.

"Good morning, Henry," Regina smiled at him. "Did you sleep well after I woke you?"

Henry shrugged.

Regina frowned. "What's wrong?"

"She really scares you," he answered. "Your mom. Emma was already here with you and you still had a nightmare. It was about her, wasn't it?"

Regina took a deep breath and sighed for the second time that morning. She slowly started to sit up in bed and held the covers up over her chest as she did. She grabbed Emma's arm and pulled it down so her hand no longer lazily cupped her breast. Emma's arm instead came to rest across her lap, her hand gently curled around her hip. Regina laid back against the headboard and patted the edge of the bed.

"Come here," she sweetly said, and Henry walked over to the bed.

Regina lifted her leg—the one Emma had forced her to have splayed over the younger woman's lower body—and lightly kicked the blonde's leg away from hers before she scooted over enough to give their son a place to sit.

When Regina stopped moving, he sat on the edge of the bed and faced her as he folded a leg and rested his knee on her thigh over the covers.

"We're going to be okay," Regina reassured him. "My mother is someone to fear, but I think we can beat her as long as we're together."

"What if we get separated? What if she does something to trick us? You said it yourself, you wouldn't want to run into the woman that raised the Evil Queen. What do we do when she comes back?"

"That's what we're going to figure out."

"But what if she attacks before we can come up with a defense? What if good can't win this time? What if she's too powerful?"

"Oh, Henry," Regina sympathetically looked at him before she reached up and brushed a hand through his hair. "Has anyone ever told you that you worry too much?"

"I kind of have to. Everyone I'm related to is a fairy tale character and because of that we have a lot of potential bad guys to fight."

She chuckled and felt Emma move beside her.

The blonde grumbled and slipped her fingers into Regina's shorts to grab more purchase on the other woman.

"If Cora's not here, we should get as much sleep as we can before getting up," Emma said.

Henry scrunched up his face as he looked at Emma and just how close his two mothers were on the shared bed.

"This is still really weird," he confessed to Regina.

"What is?"

"You two. I know I keep asking Emma to help you, but I don't… When I come into your bedroom in the morning, it's just you. Even when Graham was always around the house, it'd just be you in bed. Even if you two haven't fixed everything, you still look like a couple right now."

"I think you're just going to have to get used to having two parents," Regina smiled at him.

Henry looked from Regina to Emma and back to Regina again before he smiled back.

"I think I'll like that." Henry quickly became serious again. "But if you two get together, back together, I better not see anything. I didn't even like thinking about what it meant that Graham was over all the time."

Henry made a disgusted face and Regina laughed.

"Regina," Emma crankily groaned. "If you're not gonna sleep, can you at least let me?"

"Sorry," Regina apologized and started to move away from Emma in an attempt to get out of bed.

"No," Emma whined. "Come back."

Emma gripped Regina tighter where her hand still rested against her hip and backside. She harmlessly yanked Regina back toward her with minimal success, but Regina at least didn't move any further in an attempt to leave the bed.

"Grandma and Granps are making breakfast," Henry said. "I think I'm gonna go down there and watch them cook. You can deal with that."

"Thanks," Regina flatly, sarcastically responded.

Henry smirked at her over his shoulder on his way to the stairs then left Regina and Emma alone again.

"Tell me you're coherent enough to know Henry was just here and he needed to be calmed down," Regina asked and received no response from Emma. She rolled her eyes, grabbed the pillow out from under the other woman's head and bopped her on the head with it.

"Hey," Emma exclaimed and popped up onto her elbows. She tried to take the pillow back, but Regina withheld it from her.

Emma pushed onto one hand and reached over Regina as the brunette held the pillow over the edge of the bed and above her own head. After another minute or so of failure while Regina laughed at her, Emma finally swung a leg over the other woman's lap and positioned the brunette's hips between her knees before she was able to reclaim the pillow. She tossed the pillow onto her side of the bed and victoriously grinned at the other woman before she really looked at Regina and realized the woman was at eye level with her chest. She lowered herself onto Regina's lap and continued to straddle her while she moved her hands to grip the headboard on either side of the brunette.

"First you kissed me last night, this morning you grabbed my breast in your sleep, and now you want to sit like this," Regina asked.

"Mm, no. I don't want to sit like this," Emma said before she swiftly leaned in and captured Regina's lips with hers. "I want to sit like this."

Emma went in for another kiss and grabbed the hem of Regina's shirt. She pulled it up to her belly button and slipped her hand under the cotton material. Her fingertips brushed against olive skin before they skimmed over Regina's breast. She felt the woman's nipple perk up and harden under her touch and she grinned before she leaned in and stole another kiss.

"Mm, Emma," Regina said between kisses and put a hand over Emma's chest. She pushed Emma back. "Henry was just in here and you were groping me under the covers. You really want to press your luck a second time this morning and see what else you can get away with while your entire family is downstairs?"

"Actually," Emma smirked, "that would be kind of fun."

"Emma," Regina warningly started to say, but Emma gleefully chuckled, almost giggled, and slid her free hand under the other woman's shirt.

Emma cupped both of Regina's breasts and pushed the brunette a little more firmly into the headboard behind her. She massaged Regina's breasts as she leaned and kissed her yet again, searing and more passionate that time.

Regina whimpered into the younger woman's mouth and grabbed one of Emma's hips to steady herself, to keep her in the moment and grounded.

The blonde nipped at her bottom lip and Regina hugged Emma's body to her with a slight grin and flipped them so Emma laid on her back horizontally across the bed and Regina hovered above her.

"I missed this," Emma admitted with a smile as she spread her legs and let Regina settle between them.

"As far I as can remember, it's been a week or less since we last did this."

"Still, it felt like we wouldn't even get here let alone back together in any way, at least not for a while."

"And where is here exactly," Regina asked.

"Here is a damn good moment and we haven't had one of those in what feels like a lifetime," Emma answered and grabbed the neckline of Regina's shirt then pulled her down for a kiss.

Regina melted on top of her like chocolate left out in the heat and smiled into their next kiss. Emma tried to slip her tongue past parted lips and Regina gently bit it before she dominated the kiss with her own tongue. She ran her fingers through blonde hair and while the kisses were deep and intense, they were slow and full of emotion to balance out the amount of lust behind them.

Emma arched into the other woman and smiled into the next kiss before she hummed with content.

"Are you awake now," Regina asked as she pulled back and smirked down at the blonde.

"Mm, a little."

Regina chuckled. "If we're going to be a team, I think you'll need to be a better morning person."

"I'm a good morning person when you or sex, hopefully both, are involved."

"Yes, but you can't be dependent on that, dear."

"Why not? It's worked out pretty well for me so far," Emma smugly grinned.

"Oh? How's this for pretty well," Regina asked and bit down on Emma's neck just below her ear hard enough to cause the younger woman to yelp.

Emma writhed beneath her and bit her own bottom lip before she laughed.

"You better hope Mary Margaret and David don't see that," Emma said.

"Your hair is long enough. It should cover any mark I make there. And even if they see it, I don't care. They can glare at me all they want. I still did it and I'll do it again."

Regina leaned in again and bit her neck closer to her collarbone.

Emma gasped and gripped one of Regina's shoulders. She raked the nails of her free hand up the other woman's back. The shirt rode up with the Emma's hand and Regina licked where she bit to soothe the teeth marks she left on fair skin.

"Do you know how much I care about you," Regina asked.

"I think I'm starting to."

"Well, I do. I'm going to do everything I can to keep you and Henry safe. When I cast the curse I did it because I thought it was going to be my happy ending. It wasn't for a long time and I'm not known to be patient, but I waited for Henry and I waited for you. Not well, but I waited and now I'm happy and I don't want to let that go."

"I think we've both waited far too long for happiness," Emma replied.

"Are you saying that Henry and I make you happy?"

"Things are still so complicated," Emma truthfully confessed, "but yeah, you're both my…family. I've never had that before. And…and Henry's amazing. You've done a great job with him."

Tears started to well up in Emma's eyes.

"Don't cry," Regina frowned and wiped the pad of her thumb over Emma's cheek, even though no tears had fallen yet.

"I just… All of this… It's happening so fast and I… First the curse and then my p-pa- Mary Margaret and David, and then your mom. Everything's so close to breaking and I just- I had just started to feel like I'd stumbled onto something good and now—"

"Shhh," Regina instantly tried to calm her. "We'll work through it. As for my mother, nothing's going to happen."

"But just last night, you—"

"She's my mother. She frightens me. It's normal. Well, not normal, but I'm used to it. Right now, this morning, she's not your problem. Yes, we need to plan so we can defend ourselves against her and we should be concerned, but take a deep breath. One thing at a time."

"But what's first? I mean, do I focus on the problems I still have with the fact that fairy tales aren't actually fairy tales, they're real? Or the fact that I'm in lo—I'm sleeping with the infamous Evil Queen? But you're only the Evil Queen when you look at it on paper, though, because you're really just Regina. I've only known you as Regina and only seen you as Regina. But to everyone else that's who you used to be so it's real, it happened. Whatever."

While Emma freaked out, both women completely missed the sound of footsteps on the stairs.

"Or should I focus on Mary Margaret and David being my—being who they are? But I should really probably be focused on Cora and forget about everything else, right? It's what I do. I bury stuff and worry about the more immediate thing—"

"Don't do that. Don't bury anything. You're a fighter. You can get through all of this. It's a lot to take in, but I know you. I know you."

"You really don't," Emma self-depreciatingly laughed and then sniffled.

"I know enough. Just because I don't know every single detail about your life before Storybrooke, doesn't mean I don't know you. You are…incredible. I haven't met anyone like you. You get even with me because you do fight and you're tough, but you have a soft side. And dare I say it, you're also good with Henry. You're good for him, and for me. You make things better, less tense. I really appreciate that."

"Really," Emma asked with a smile.

"Yes," Regina firmly stated. "Emma, you are so very important. Don't ever forget that."

"I'm not. I've never been."

"You are. You certainly act like it, don't you," Regina teased. "You held me when I had a nightmare and I'm not just talking about last night. You made it a point to come to me that night after the mob outside of my house and I didn't have access to magic. You take charge and protect people even if you don't feel like you can. You do it because you want to, you need to be there for people you care for no matter what else you feel and that's just one of the many things that makes you special."

Emma blinked and finally the tears fell.

"It's- Everything, it's all—it's so much. It's too much," Emma said.

"I know," Regina quietly said and leaned in. She brushed away tears on one side of Emma's face and kissed away the tears on the other side.

Emma bunched her fist into the side of Regina's shirt and took in a shuddering breath.

"God, I'm a mess."

Regina chuckled. "I wondered when you would let it out."

"Seriously?"

"Even I think this is a lot for one week and I knew about the fairy tale thing."

Emma laughed through her tears and a moment later said, "Thank you."

"You're here for me and I'm here for you, no matter how anyone else feels about it."

Emma smiled again.

"Okay," she responded.

"Okay," Regina repeated and leaned in again. She kissed the blonde sweetly and ran her hand from Emma's hair to her shoulder and then sternum.

Regina kissed her again, not sinfully affectionate and just as sweetly as the first. Emma brought a hand up to brunette hair and ran her fingers through it before she gently gripped it as if it was a life preserver and Emma was drowning in the middle of an ocean.

"We do this thing, we face your mom," Emma started to say once they ended the kiss. "We deal with her and then we talk about us. Does that sound good?"

"Yes, that sounds very good. But just so I'm prepared, should I look into renting a U-Haul?"

Emma looked both amused and surprised.

"Are you making a lesbian joke right now," Emma asked.

"I may have cursed the town, but I kept up with the outside world as best as possible. I had a lot of free time."

"Well, well," Emma smiled. "Look at you, up to date with the modern times of the fairy tale-less society beyond the town line."

"I guess you could say I'm full of surprises."

"I am definitely saying that," Emma replied, "because you really are."

They laughed together and after a few seconds they heard a throat clear by the staircase. They turned and saw Snow standing across the room just past the top of the stairs.

"Oh, hey, Mary Margaret," Emma greeted a little awkwardly while she remained underneath Regina on the bed.

Regina and Emma lost their smiles and Regina not-too-slowly pushed off of the blonde. She cleared her own throat, which had gone a little dry considering how vulnerable she'd looked in front of the other woman while she was with Emma and she finger-combed her hair a bit to ensure it didn't look out of place.

Emma sat up and balanced herself on her hands as she rested them near one edge of the bed, her legs still spread and Regina still plenty far between them. The brunette was on her knees on the mattress, however, and their bodies weren't pressed together anymore. It wasn't completely innocent, but it wasn't salacious either.

"I just thought someone should tell you breakfast is ready and Henry said he wasn't going to be the one to come up here again," she carefully said. "Now I think I know why."

Emma sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Not that it's any of your business, but we weren't doing anything," Emma defended them.

"Oh, no. That's not what I meant. I wasn't… It's fine. I actually wasn't judging. I meant that Henry must not want to see his mothers like…that. I wouldn't want to walk in on my parents so close."

Emma nodded and relaxed a little.

"So, there's breakfast downstairs. We can talk about our next course of action with Cora over food or maybe wait until we're finished, but there are eggs, bacon, sausage and French toast," Mary Margaret informed them then gave a nod and turned and headed back downstairs.

"Wow. That was surprisingly civil," Emma said. "I thought with all your history that would have been… And then with all their objections…"

"I know. It's strange."

Emma chuckled. "Definitely. Okay. Time to eat. I just realized how hungry I am."

"You're always hungry," Regina smiled.

"Mhmm," Emma agreed with a smile and leaned in. She kissed Regina once more and then groaned as she started to get out of bed. "Let's go help ourselves to a warm meal neither of us made."

Emma took Regina's hand and helped pull her onto her feet. They walked hand in hand down the stairs and only let go right before they reached the kitchen counter.

When Regina cut Snow a side-glance she realized the other woman had caught the display of affection, but as she faced forward again and took the stool next to Emma at the counter it was then she noticed Charming had not. That was probably for the best.

Charming served Emma a plate of French toast and bacon with a warm, loving smile and then looked over at Regina and glared. He served her nothing and Regina didn't flinch. She accepted it and stood up. She walked around the counter, moved past Charming as he tried his best to avoid her in the small space on the other side of the countertop, and she served herself. Her back was to him and his wife, but she would have bet good money he sent Snow a look with a raised brow and unhappy expression. Regina would have won that bet.

Emma waited before digging in as she toyed with her utensils, flipped them over and over in her hands, and watched Regina make a plate for herself. When Regina started to walk back around to the empty stool, Emma finally started to cut up her French toast and eat it.

Regina settled in next to her and the two of them silently ate together, a peaceful silence between them. At one point during the meal, Emma even looked over at Regina then at the woman's plate and reached over to steal a bite of the brunette's pancakes. She proudly smirked at Regina when the other woman stared her down. Regina rolled her eyes in response to the smirk and went back to her breakfast without any other protest to the blonde's actions.

Snow and Charming watched from the small kitchen table and Snow didn't seem as surprised or confused as Charming. He silently questioned it a moment after he turned away from the other women and looked at his wife.

"I think…I saw what Henry sees," Snow quietly explained.

"What?"

"It isn't some spell."

"How can you agree with Emma on this?"

"Because I went up there, David. They didn't know I was there and I saw enough to know that whatever's between them isn't one of Regina's tricks."

"What did you see," Charming asked as he leaned forward in his seat.

"I saw…" Snow drifted off as she took a moment to look over at Emma and Regina then looked at Charming once again and continued. "I saw compassion, comforting, reassurances. David, I saw love."

Charming started to choke as he coughed and pounded against his chest with a closed fist, food lodged in his throat. His fork clattered onto the plate and caught everyone's attention for a brief moment.

"Sorry," he apologized and waved at them in a dismissive gesture that told everyone he was fine.

A couple of seconds passed and he stopped coughing. He cleared his throat and calmed down as he took a long sip of orange juice. Henry, Emma, and Regina returned to their own food. Henry was on the couch with his food. He seemed content to eat alone while Emma and Regina occasionally glanced over at him then returned to their companionable silence.

Snow watched them for a while, the women's backs to the other couple and Henry, and Charming looked over at them as well to see whatever she claimed to have seen.

Just then, Emma looked dejected and Charming and Snow watched as Regina carefully reached over and gently placed a hand on Emma's forearm. Emma visibly relaxed and didn't even have to look at Regina for either woman to know the touch helped in a tremendous way.

Another minute passed and Regina let go only to push her plate over to be right next to Emma's. There was still half a pancake and a single sausage link left. Emma looked at Regina and smiled then picked up her fork and took a bite of Regina's pancake.

Charming's eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up to his hairline. He looked at Snow and saw her knowingly smile with a hint of pain and sadness in her eyes.

"I didn't want it to be true," she told him, "but I see something there. Emma's not hopelessly in unrequited love with the Evil Queen. She's mutually in love with Regina."

"But…how? How did this happen?"

Suddenly, Henry appeared next to them with a foodless plate and a smile.

"I told you," he said. "It's not…it's not bad. This could be a good thing."

And as the three of them looked over at Emma and Regina just as Emma broke her last piece of bacon in half and offered it to Regina who kindly accepted it, Snow and Charming were inclined to agree. It could be a good thing.

Around forty minutes later, dishes were washed off and left to dry on the clean side of the sink while Snow and Charming drank tea together at the table and ran through the potential scenarios with Cora. Henry sat next to Regina on the stools at the counter while Emma stood across from him and leaned onto the countertop on her elbows.

"So, you know her better," Emma started to say. "How do you think we should come at Cora?"

"By not 'coming at her'," Regina answered. "Striking first could help us come out on top, but most likely it's a mistake. More times than not it means showing our hand and allowing her to find our weaknesses. She already knows mine."

"Okay. So how do we protect ourselves," Henry asked.

"I…I think we're going to need some help," Regina reluctantly confessed.

"What, like magical help," Emma asked.

"Well, I certainly need help in that department. I need to practice. I need to find a way to use my magic without you being my catalyst. We should probably find out just why that is, too."

"Then what?"

"I'm not sure. It might help to go to the person who brought magic back, however."

"Gold," Emma asked with raised brows, shocked but a little upset at Regina's perceived suggestion.

"He's always several steps ahead and he's been around much longer than me. He's also the one who taught me magic so he knows a great deal more than I do. He'll probably know what's wrong."

"And you honestly believe he'll want to help?"

"Well, we do have a common enemy."

Emma frowned and furrowed her brow while Charming and Snow headed over to the counter and joined their conversation.

"My mother," Regina added, and Emma and Henry looked almost identical in that moment.

Both Henry and Emma's eyes were wide and they were stunned beyond words. Their expressions were extremely similar and their biology became very apparent to Regina in that moment, but thankfully it didn't bother her that time.

"They have a history," Snow asked with just as much surprise from her place beside the corner of the counter, in the distance on Emma's side of the counter between the blonde and Regina.

"According to both my mother and my father, yes," Regina replied. "My father was the one who told me how my mother learned magic. Rumple was her tutor."

"Huh. Way to keep the magic mentor in the family," Emma commented before she saw Regina's less than pleased reaction and winced. "Sorry."

Regina shook her head and moved on.

"He may also have a few suggestions as to how to deal with her. He's gone head to head with her before, or so I've been told. He might be able to help in more ways than one. Although I'm not quite sure what would convince him to do that," Regina said.

"Um," Emma shuffled and shifted uncomfortably for a moment before she confessed, "there's always that favor I owe him."

A/N: Not much in the way of plot, but we're getting there. I felt that the emotional aspects of this chapter were still needed as a continuation from the last chapter. Let me know what you think.