A.N: Wow! I know, I'm sorry - it's been a while. Please will someone pay me to just write FF all day so I don't have to work? Anyway, this is the final chapter of Always. I don't have the words in my heart to thank you for reviewing, faving, following and just for your super kind PMs about this story. I'd never published anything I'd written before this and I never imagined that so many of you would read my humble offering, let alone anything else! I'm sad to see it finished but I think it's time to let them have their happily ever after, don't you? :) I only hope you feel this is an appropriate ending for our little family. Once again, thank you for the ride and please feel free to stick with me as I embark on future projects with this ship. You are all the best. (I mean it!) Lots of love, Ooncer.

'Henry! Lunch!'

Henry ran his hand under the faucet and tried one last time to persuade the strands of sticking-up hair to flatten. It was typical, he thought, on the first day back at school.

'Henry!'

'Coming, mom!'

Grabbing his satchel and the homework he'd left all summer and completed hurriedly the night before, he hot-footed it down to the kitchen.

There was a surprising calmness compared to the scene he'd imagined, which included Emma rushing around in floods of tears, cramming food into paper bags and spilling oatmeal all over the hob as she prepared breakfast. Instead, she sat perfectly calm at the end of the kitchen table, chewing on the corner of a slice of toast. Lily sat next to her, squeezing far too much honey over her oatmeal in the shape of an L but she looked up as her brother entered.

'Henry. Mama put your lunch there,' she told him, pointing at the pair of brown bags on the counter and in the process, flinging a splodge of her sticky breakfast at the fridge.

'Eurgh,' Henry exclaimed, grabbing a cloth and smearing it off, 'will you try and keep it in the bowl, Lil?'

The tiny blonde girl chuckled with delight at her brother's facial expression. 'Guess what?' she asked with a smile so wide her dimples showed.

'What?' Henry asked, shoving his lunch bag into the satchel and slumping down into a chair with a cereal bar.

'I get to go to school today!'

'Oh, that's what it is! I knew there was something special happening today, I just couldn't put my finger on it.' He winked at Emma, who was maintaining a sense of calm that still perplexed Henry. 'Wow, first day at school,' he continued, 'that's pretty big. Are you sure you're old enough?'

'Nope!' Emma interjected, shaking her head. 'She's still by little baby girl aren't you?' She put out a hand and stroked Lily's short, blond ponytail. It seemed utterly unfathomable that she had faced dragons and ogres with unrivalled courage, but her daughter's first day of school threatened to have her weeping like a baby.

Lily Cassidy was now the spitting image of her mother, with sea-green eyes and hair exactly the same golden shade. She was a chip off the old block with regards to temperament too, and her independence had the ability to swell Emma's heart with pride and drive her to the edge of distraction simultaneously. It had been a learning curve for all concerned, but totally and completely worth it.

Lily folded her arms and shook her head. 'No!' she told them. 'I'm big enough for school.'

'You'll be getting married next,' Henry joked, earning himself a glare from Emma and a disgusted expression from his little sister.

'One step at a time,' their mother said as she rose from her seat and folded her daughter's lunch bag so it would fit in her backpack. 'Lily, your lunch is in here. I've packed your favorites and I want it all eaten, you got it?'

'Got it,' the little girl repeated, clambering down from her chair and rushing over to grab her backpack.

'Henry will drop you off at the bus and wait for you to get on. He's going to wave really big to make up for mommy not being able to take you, right Henry?' she asked pointedly with raised eyebrows in the direction of her son.

'Why don't I just hold a neon sign?' Henry drawled sarcastically but added a, 'Yes, I'll wave,' when he noticed his mother's eyes narrowing dangerously.

Lily tugged at her mother's shirt just below the Sheriff's badge that adorned her belt. 'Will you pick me up later mama?' she asked. Her bottom lip protruded just a tiny amount, as it always did when she felt unsure.

Emma lifted her up and perched the child on her hip. 'Of course I will, baby. I'll be there early, just waiting for you to come out.'

'Alright, we gotta go, Lil,' Henry called over before shoving the rest of Emma's toast into his mouth.

'Now you be good today, ok? And have fun. Do what you're told and if anybody is mean to you, what are you going to do?' Emma asked.

'Tell grandma right away," Lily chorused in reply.

'I love you.'

'Love you too, mama.'

Emma put her daughter down, made sure she had everything she needed and led her by the hand to the front door. There, she kissed both children and said her last goodbyes but just as they were about to step out of the door, Lily stopped.

Emma's heart sank. She'd done so well to not get upset in front of them, but that was only because Lily had seemed more than happy to go off on her newest adventure. She wasn't sure she would be able to contain her emotions if she knew her daughter had reservations enough to hesitate.

'Wait, Henry,' the little girl ordered and she ran back into the living room, over to where Emma had placed a photograph of her and Neal from a long ago. Through the crack in the doorframe, Emma watched as Lily crossed over to the frame, kissed it and mumbled something inaudible.

She returned with a smile, picked up her backpack and took Henry's hand ready to leave. 'Nearly forgot to say bye to daddy,' she said, nonchalantly.

Emma and Henry exchanged a meaningful look before he began to lead her down the steps and away from the house.

'Have a great day,' Emma called out as she watched the two most important people in her world turn at the end of the path and began to disappear down the street.

She felt the familiar burning behind her eyes and a lump began to form in her throat but she managed to contain the tears until the door was closed. Pressing her back up against it, she let it take her weight as a mixture of emotions enveloped her. It didn't feel like long ago at all that she'd told Mary Margaret about the baby she was going to have and now here they were, a happy family of three. Every fear she had ever had, dissipated every time she watched Henry walk around the park with his little sister on his shoulders. Every food fight, every birthday, every time she looked in on their sleeping silhouettes just before she went to bed.

A few years ago she had been concerned about the lack of a father figure in her children's lives but watching her five year old daughter say goodbye to her daddy before her first day of school had somehow managed to put those fears to rest for the last time. Yes, she'd spend her life wishing Neal was able to be a part of this family, but she could be absolutely sure that there was no absence of love for any of them. Not when there was this much to be shared around.

It didn't matter what happened next; whether Henry went to college or not or how many more curses they had to face. They'd be together.

The three of them against the world.

Always.