STORYBROOKE, MAINE, 2022.
Two weeks before Emma's death.

"Honestly, it was ridiculous. Isn't saving cats from trees what firefighters do on a slow day, not sheriffs? Also, I thought that type of shit only happened in crappy movies, not real life." Emma huffs, shoving her hands deep into the pockets of her stiff, new leather jacket (that she had insisted on wearing because Henry had given it to her for Christmas, despite the weather being far too cold and harsh for such a garment,) a childish scowl settled deeply into her face.

A giggle bubbles out of Regina's lips, and she shakes her head at her wife beside her, the icy, snow-filled air slicing at her lips and drying the inside of her mouth. "Aww."

Emma stops walking beside her momentarily to sigh loudly, stomping on the ground with both feet. It's unclear whether she's stomping due to the cold or her attitude, and Regina finds that she can't decide which is cuter. "Come on, Gina. You're supposed to be on my side here."

"I am," Regina stresses, beginning to walk again, watching Emma wait a few seconds out of spite before jogging to catch up. The packed snow crunches loudly under her black heeled boots, and icy flakes dust onto her hair, dampening the strands. "It's just....you're right. It's ridiculous."

Emma grins at her, finally accepting Regina's reaction to her tale. "My ass still hurts," she complains, mind flickering to a couple hours ago, when she'd been a few branches high in the skeleton of a tree, coaxing the tabby kitten above her to come down. She'd lost her balance on the slick, snowy branch, and....well. She'd collided hard on the ground, a large pile of snow completely soaking the denim of her jeans. It wasn't a total loss, however--the kitten had decided that Emma had put on enough of a show and had hopped down a few branches until the blonde could just reach up and grab it, handing the ball of fur to a wide-eyed Archie.

"I wasn't aware the Cricket had a cat," Regina comments, shivering under the thick, wooly fabric of her stylish peacoat. Her leather-covered hand reaches out blindly beside her until Emma's soft glove meets hers, and their fingers intertwine.

"Neither did I, but apparently he's...new. Pongo brought the kitten home, can you believe it?" She asks, trying to imagine the large Dalmatian bringing home a bundle of grey fur to Archie. Aren't dogs and cats not supposed to get along? Pongo is a ridiculous sweetheart, however, so it's not hard to believe.

Regina shakes her head, rolling her eyes, and stops beside Emma just outside the Granny's neon sign. She produces her thin, sleek, new iPhone from her coat pocket (a Christmas gift from Henry--as he had insisted that she only have the newest and best--but she can't figure out how to work most of the applications), hovering her gloved thumb over the home button, flashing the time. Her lock screen makes her smile--it's a recent picture of Emma, Henry and her on Christmas, all wearing matching terribly-knitted sweaters from Snow. Emma and Henry are both doubled over, laughing and pointing at Regina's sour expression, who had been forced to wear the ugly, itchy sweater for the picture. Henry had jokingly set it as her lock screen, and while Regina had batted at his arm and pretended to scowl, it's been weeks and she hasn't changed it.

Regina shakes the happy memory from her mind, replacing the smile with a frown as she checks the time again. "Henry was supposed to be here almost an hour ago."

Emma scoffs, playfully slapping Regina's bottom. "Oh, come on, don't be so hard on him. You see this weather? At least we know he's not speeding."

"Oh, speeding like you do?" Regina questions, turning to face her wife with a glare that falls entirely too short of looking remotely real.

"Just because I don't drive like a grandma like you do---" Emma winks, sinking her fingers into--

Regina squeals and takes several steps forward, nearly slipping on ice in her impractical boots. "Hands off my ass, Miss Swan; it's inappropriate in public," she hisses, glancing around the vacant outside dining area.

"Oh!--we're back to Miss Swan, now?" Emma attempts to pull a sexy smirk, but her dorky grin keeps shining through at all the wrong moments as she prowls towards her wife, covering the distance Regina had put between them.

She places her soft fabric-covered fingers against Regina's jawline, placing another gloved hand against the small of her back, feeling the other woman shiver under her. She collects blood red lips into a passionate kiss, snowflakes falling around them and dusting their clothes.

"Mmmm," Regina murmurs in vague reply to Emma's previous question, ready to sink under Emma's touch before--

"Hey, moms--ugh, is this a bad time?"

Both women break apart, snapping startled, wide eyes towards their son, keys still in his hand from his car parked just beside the curb. A hand is splayed dramatically over his face, shielding his so-called "innocent" eyes.

"Henry!" Regina exclaims, wiping imaginary lipstick off of her chin and makes her way over to her son as quickly as she can in her boots slipping on the slick pavement.

Before she can reach him, he closes the distance easily and collects her in a bear hug before she has time to wrap her arms around him first. His large ungloved hand reaches up and smooths down his mother's dark hair, pressing his palm against her scalp.

"I missed you," Regina whispers needlessly, her face squished into his collarbone and feeling his strong arms engulfing her fully into him. She doubts she'll ever become accustomed to his size, and though it's bittersweet, she can at least revel in the warmth she feels tucked into him.

"I missed you more," he tells her, and though there's an undoubtable sincerity to his tone, Regina knows it can't possibly be true, but she smiles all the same.

Then he's letting go all to soon, moving onto Emma, where they share a far quicker hug and top it off with a fist bump. "Hi, Kid," Emma's saying, cheeks spread far apart and squinting up at him behind the setting sun.

He's twenty-two and he's finishing his last college semester before graduating with an English major, and his two mothers couldn't be more sickeningly proud of him if they tried. He has vivid green eyes, bright and sparkling, framed by long, curling eyelashes, that always seem to be full of laughter and fondness. He has a large, gorgeous smile that stretches his lips thin and shows most of his straight white teeth, and there's hardly a time when he's not laughing, or smirking, or cracking a joke. He's terribly smart, witty, and sarcastic, giving Emma every good reason to call him a "little shit," and though Regina always frowns disapprovingly at the title, there's a twinkle in her eye. ("At least call him a handsome little shit, Emma.")

And so the little boy, the "Truest Believer," has grown up but he hasn't lost his hope or his boyishness charm, and if he wasn't so damned tall, it would be easy to forget that he's an adult. So, naturally, Regina always tenses her muscles, ready to scold, whenever Henry orders a beer anywhere, having to remind herself that, yes, he's old enough. However, though Henry likes to laugh at her reactions, he never forgets to pull her aside and tell her with absolute sincerity and wide, truthful eyes, that he only drinks once in awhile, and that he won't disappoint her.

And now, as Henry's days as a college student are drawing to a close, he's been visiting home far more often, showing his face around the dreary town in Maine most weekends. Though Regina's always entirely happy near her son, of course, she worries. Doesn't she always? She worries about him making the long drive, whatnot with his homework and him likely feeling exhausted. She'd voiced this concern, once; and Henry had laughed and held her hand and told her that he would drive half-asleep, with his eyes closed, if it meant he could be home.

This turned out to be the wrong thing to say, and he'd had to spend five minutes assuring her that, yes, it was a joke, and, yes, I will pull over if I get too tired, and, Seriously, Mom, it's okay.

Still though, it's something like bliss to have him home, and it feels almost as though it's been an eternity since his wonderfully-long Christmas break, and finally she gets to stare up into his beautiful face once more.

After a bit more of Henry poking fun at their "inappropriate face sucking" and "hormonal teenager" tendencies, the three of them link arms and walk, side by side, into Granny's Diner.

And every separate one of them feels as though this is what a "happy ending" feels like, and wonders if maybe it doesn't get any better than this.

And realizes that they don't want anything more than this, and that finding a perfect family is the only thing they've ever wanted since the beginning.

"So, Kid, what's new?" Emma questions once they're seated in a comfortably-familiar booth near the back of the diner. Regina hands Emma a napkin, and the blonde gives her a domestic, off-handed "thank you," before unfolding it and smoothing it down onto her lap.

Henry shakes his head, opening his mouth, but the age-old "you two are so married," teasing dies out before it passes his lips, as he reminds himself that the joke no longer works, because they are, in fact, married. Instead, he jests, "I thought once I finally outgrew you that nickname would finally die out."

"Are you forty?" Emma deadpans, raising her eyebrows across the table at him when he only looks at her, wide-eyed, and doesn't answer.

Finally, "No...."

"Oh? Well, until then, Kid, it's staying." Emma tells him, grinning broadly, crossing her arms in front of her chest, obviously proud of herself.

Henry throws his head back and laughs. Regina turns towards her wife, awkwardly swatting her shoulder due to close they're sitting next to each other.

The food comes, two ridiculously large burgers surrounded by curly fries for Emma and Henry, and a Caesar salad for Regina. She waits until Emma's squirted ketchup all over the fries, not one to use a ketchup pile to dip into, and then Regina sneaks her hand under Emma's arm and snatches something close to five fries from her plate.

"Ugh, Gina! How many times do I have to tell you to get your own fries?! We all know that salads aren't as good as you pretend they are." The blonde pouts, swatting her wife's soft, olive-skinned hands with greasy fingers.

"Hmm. But yours taste better."

Emma rolls her eyes, but betrays herself with a large grin. She turns to Henry then, who's watching the exchange fondly, a small smirk curled onto his lightly stubbled face. "Seriously though, what's new? Have you met anyone? Come on, I know that I helped raise a ladies' man."

Regina pretends to glare at Emma for the comment, but hides her smile behind a napkin, a warmth of thankfulness erupts in her chest at Emma's acknowledgement of having only helped raise Henry. Despite all of her joking, Emma never forgets to give Regina credit for making their son the man he is today.

"I don't know about being a girl magnet, but I...did meet someone." He admits, and Emma slaps her palms against the table in excitement, and Regina's heart flutters in her chest. After a moment, he continues, saying, "We've only been dating for a few weeks, but she's from my psychology class and she likes the stuff I write, and..." he trails off, realizing he's beginning to talk much too fast. He takes a breath and smiles at his mothers. "But I'm probably not going to bring her over until I think we're really serious."

Emma nods slowly, seeming to agree with his decision, while Regina tries not to lose her mind like the last time he had dated someone. After his ex had broken his heart, she had had to be physically restrained to not poof herself to Henry's campus and not, as Emma had put it, "go all Evil Queen on her." She'd then instantly apologized to Regina for using the "'E' word," and Regina had kissed her with a smile, because she's finally healed enough to hear the title without having a terrible flashback.

"So, you are coming back home after you graduate, then?" Regina asks after drinking three long sips of her unsweetened iced tea to cool her dry mouth. It's the question she's been dreading since he'd gone away to college. She's asked him a few times during some of his earlier semesters, and his answer has always been an enthusiastic yes, but she keeps expecting his views to change as he grows older and develops new ideas in the real world.

He pauses, turns to face Regina slowly. He reaches across the table to grasp both of Regina's hands in his own, searching her brown irises imploringly. "Mom, I'm not going anywhere. I mean it. I don't plan on leaving this town, with you two, and Grams and Gramps, and everyone else anytime soon. I don't want to be anywhere but home."

And Regina looks hard at her son, and though she feels heart grow heavy every time she studies his strong, scratchy jaw and handsome face and realizes all over again how much he's grown up, she looks only at his vivid green eyes and sees nothing but truth there.

She smiles.

---

Regina sees fireworks behind her eyelids.

There's purple, and blue, and.....and shivers lining her body, disrupting her skin under Emma's touch. Sparks erupt from their kiss, and Regina revels every inch of Emma's frame.

After years of dating and marriage, the chemistry is as explosive as it's always been, the love just as amazing, and each kiss feels like the first. Regina doesn't have to think for a second whether or not the years where they kept missing each other and keeping feelings to themselves was all worth it for this.

Because it was.

And so Regina lays on her side, tangled in Emma's embrace behind her, the taste of cherry strong on her tongue. Emma's chin rests on Regina's warm, olive-skinned shoulder, and their breathing syncs, and it's easy.

It's everything Regina's ever wanted, and she feels as though her heart could burst because it's absolutely impossible that she could be any happier than she is in this moment.

Then, whispered words enveloped in hot breaths of air on her shoulder: "I'm so happy."

Regina smiles widely, moving her head to the side to stare into Emma's green eyes. The tip of their noses touch, and they're so close that their faces are out of focus, and Regina flutters her eyelids shut and presses a soft kiss on Emma's pink lips.

"Damn you--you make me feel like a lovesick teenager."

Emma laughs then; loud and clear, and it's possibly the most beautiful sound Regina's heard. She stretches her neck up, nips the blonde's earlobe lightly with her teeth.

"I'm serious!"

"Yeah, yeah," Emma teases, before flopping onto her back, blonde waves flowing over her pillow, with a few strands tickling Regina's nose. "Crazy that our kid's about to be a college graduate, huh?"

Regina sighs, shifting so her position mimics Emma's. "Don't remind me. I can't believe he's so..." the words die out and she ignores the pricking behind her eyes.

Emma props herself up onto one elbow, looking intently at her wife. "You heard him, though; 'I don't want to be anywhere but home'."

Regina curls her lips, reaching up to caress Emma's cheek with her warm hand, her wedding ring cold against her skin. "And we'll be right here waiting for him."

AN: So, I'm sure you all weren't expecting an entire chapter of teeth-rotting fluff from a story like this. So, hate me less? Lol.
That said, this chapter was filled with foreshadowing, which will become clearer, hopefully, in the next chapter, so don't throw out your tissues yet.

I would be thrilled to read what you all think, and please leave a vote if you enjoyed.