Disclaimer: see Chapter 1

A/N: Well, this is it. Thank you all for reading and leaving lovely reviews. I apologize that this update took a little longer, but real life slapped me in a face a time or three the last two weeks, and I didn't have the time (or head) to finish this.

It was late by the time Helena met up with the Star's photographer in front of the Waldorf Astoria. "Are you sure they're here?" Helena asked. She wondered why Regina and Emma would have chosen a different hotel.

"Yep."

"Did you get Myka on the phone?"

"Sure."

"What did you say to her?" Helena hurried him up with a motion of her hand.

"That I was looking for you with some important information."

"And?"

"She fell like a log." The photographer snickered. "She asked me what information I had, so I dropped the bomb. I told her I was driving by the Waldorf and saw Emma and Regina go in." He scratched his neck and pointed to the hotel entrance. "On investigating, I found they'd been assigned the penthouse suite as a married couple."

Helena looked satisfied. "What did she say?"

"She used some swear words that were new even to me and then she hung up on me." The photographer studied Helena. "You know, I've been thinking," he said. "That was a justice of the peace they went to. Maybe they really did get married."

Helena scoffed at that. "How could she? She's got a wife already."

"I know, but it isn't it all just fake?"

Helena stopped listening and hit his arm when she spotted what she had been looking for. "Look, there's Myka now." She pointed. "Okay, you wait out here until I call you. Looks like we're off to the races."

She followed Myka into the hotel with a smirk.

O O O

Regina put down the room phone with a frown.

"So?" Emma asked.

Just then there was a knock on the door, a second before it opened and Myka came in.

Regina recovered first. "Myka, this is a surprise."

Myka grinned. "I just bet it is," she said. Then she smiled at Emma. "I'm sorry to break into your little party, Ms. Swan, but I need to talk to my ... Regina."

Emma raised her eyebrow at that but motioned for her to continue.

Myka walked over to Regina and pulled her away from Emma. "Helena set something up," she whispered urgently. "Does Emma know? You know about ..."

"She knows."

"Thank God." Myka breathed a sigh of relief. "She obviously didn't kill you, so it wasn't too bad?" She saw the smile on Regina's face as the other woman shook her head and looked at Emma. Damn, I want that kind of happiness as well. "Well, time to take care of mine then. How about a little help?"

"Absolutely," Regina agreed. "Listen, if I know H.G, she'll be outside trying to listen, so I guess you should make a nice scene and we just play along."

"All right," Myka agreed. "Keep your fingers crossed for me."

"What you said before should work nicely ... just try it with some good old righteous anger." She winked at Myka, who nodded as they walked back over to Emma. "Okay, start over," Regina mouthed to Myka, so she did.

"I'm sorry to crash your little party, Ms. Swan," Myka shouted, with a healthy dose of snark in her voice and an apologetic smile to Emma, "but this woman happens to be my wife."

Regina nodded and turned to Emma. "Dear, this is the woman I told you about," she said louder than strictly necessary. "Ms. Myka Bering."

"Mrs. Mills is the name," Myka insisted with a grimace. Like she would ever change her name.

Emma played along, curious where this was going to go. She did enjoy a good hoax and Helena had this coming from all she had heard. "Pleased to meet you," she said with a smile. "I've been looking forward to meeting you." She couldn't help but add, "Regina told me so much about you."

Myka was actually surprised and almost dropped the act. "She told you about me?" she said with a smile, her voice a lot softer now.

Emma chuckled. "Yes. Come on, sit down."

Regina tiptoed over to the door while Emma and Myka continued their introductions, and Emma poured Myka a drink.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Emma asked with a grin when she saw Regina by the door.

"Don't worry, I'm not leaving," Regina said softly. "I just don't want Helena to miss anything," she added loudly and opened the door, revealing Helena crouched down low, one ear pressed to where the door was a second before.

"Good evening, Helena." Regina's greeting was almost cordial.

Helena simply refused to be embarrassed about being caught eavesdropping. That was part of her job after all. "Hello." She straightened.

"Could you hear all right or do you need a summary?" Regina asked as she bid Helena inside.

"Hello, Ms. Wells," Emma said in greeting. "So nice to see you again. Let's all sit down."

"What are you doing here?" Myka demanded.

"Naturally, she didn't expect you," Regina commented, keeping up with the act.

Myka gasped dramatically. "I had no idea she was out there." She winked at Emma before facing Helena. "This has nothing to do with you or your newspaper, so you keep out of it." Helena flinched but stood her ground. "As Mrs. Mills, I demand-"

Regina jumped in. "There must be some mistake," she said. "You see, this is Mrs. Mills." Emma cleared her throat and Regina nodded. "Okay, okay, so we kept our names," she added with a grin and a shrug.

"What?" Both Myka and Helena asked.

Emma and Regina nodded. "We have been married for more than an hour now," Regina said.

Myka and Helena stared at Emma, looking for denial or confirmation. "Yes, we were just married," Emma confirmed.

"Have you gone crazy?" Helena gasped, staring at Regina.

"We are married. Really." Regina got a piece of paper from the sideboard. "I always have our marriage certificate close by just in case." She handed it over to Helena.

"They're married all right," Helena said after checking the certificate. "But that's bigamy!" she yelled. "Ooh, what a story: Emma Swan marries bigamist. That's even better than I think this would be!" She chuckled gleefully.

Emma cleared her throat. "Print that in the paper and you'll have another libel suit on your hands."

"I'm not a bigamist," Regina said seriously.

"You married Myka, didn't you?" Helena was still thinking about the headline she could come up with.

Regina laughed. "That doesn't count."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that my dear, shady friend Killian is a drag queen with no particular right to marry anyone, so the paper we and the witnesses signed isn't worth the ink it was printed with." She didn't add that it also was an almost empty page with some fake names as she had counted on the witnesses being too engrossed by the goings-on to actually look at the paper. She had been right.

"Then you and Myka were never really married?"

"Just like we planned it ... fake marriage." Regina smiled at Helena.

"But I made an honest woman of her," Emma said as she wrapped her arm around Regina's shoulder.

"Dear, don't forget the letter," Regina whispered in Emma's ear.

"Oh, yeah. This is for you." Emma handed Helena a letter.

Helena scanned the piece of paper. "You dropped the suit!" She dropped the letter on the table and hugged Emma. "I just can't thank you enough," she said excitedly. "Emma Swan marries author. What a story! What a scoop!" With that Helena ran for the door.

"Ms. Wells," Emma's voice stopped her. "Didn't you forget something?"

Helena looked at her hands and then around the room. Her eyes glanced over Myka and landed on the letter. "Oh yeah, the letter, thanks." She went and picked it up.

Emma was getting angrier by the second. "The letter and Ms. Bering," she said icily.

"Myka, of course." She turned to Myka and pulled her into a hug, not noticing the sad look on Myka's face. "Listen, I have to run back to the office. Call me there in the morning?"

"I won't," Myka said.

"What?" Helena asked. "Why not? This is all over now and we can go back to our life."

"Our life?" Myka yelled. "What is that, our life?" She glared at Helena. "All those little tricks you pulled today alone, to get me here, to trick Regina and hurt Emma. Not once thinking about what I might have to say about all of that." She started pacing. "You think you were so smart, don't you? Coming up with this plan?" She rounded on Helena. "All building up to a nice happy ending ... You win the case, Regina gets the girl, but what about me?"

Helena was speechless, and all she could do was stare at Myka.

"You didn't even care when I fell in love with Regina," Myka continued, her voice resigned. "Oh, I know she tried to play me, too ... but at least she had a great excuse. She was in love with Emma!" She took a deep breath. "But you pushed me aside for the sake of a newspaper!" She pulled off the ring Helena had given her not too long ago and threw it at her fiancee. "So, marry the paper and be the proud mother of a lot of headlines!"

She tried to run past Helena and to the door, but Helena stopped her. "Myka, please, let us-"

"No!" Myka wrenched herself from Helen's grip and ran to the door to the suite's bedroom and vanished through it.

"Myka!" Helena ran after her.

"Wait!" Emma yelled, stopping Helena from following Myka. "Let me talk to her. You two have done enough."

Regina looked slightly offended by that remark, but she knew Emma was right. Myka had been the one who had really gotten hurt in all of this. "Please take care of her."

Emma nodded and followed Myka.

Regina whirled around to face Helena. "You damn idiot!"

"Me?" Helena shouted. "You were the one who played her."

"I didn't," Regina replied. "We were just trying to make you jealous," she added.

"But ... why?" Helena sank down in a chair.

"Because you're an idiot," Regina repeated. "Myka loves you, really loves you." She pulled a chair close to Helena's and joined her. "And you let your work come between you again and again."

"I ... I'm just trying to be good at my job," Helena said. "You know how it is, Regina. The pace, the rush ... always something else to chase after."

Regina nodded. "Which is why I got out."

"You got out because I fired you," Helena reminded her.

Regina chuckled. "The day you fired me, I was on my way to Mrs. Frederic to hand her my notice. You firing me just made sure I got a nice little severance package."

Helena chewed on that for a while, looking absolutely lost. "What do I do, Regina?"

O O O

"Sorry about that scene," Myka said when Emma closed the door behind herself. "I'm sure you're not used to anything like that."

Emma snorted. "You have no idea." She sat down next to Myka on the bed. "I'm sorry about all of this," she said. "If I had known what would happen, I'd never have sued the paper."

"Then you never would have met Regina," Myka pointed out.

Emma sighed. "That's true, and that would have been too sad." She smiled at Myka. "I really love her, you know."

"I know," Myka whispered. "And she loves you, too."

"And you love Helena."

"Yes, as much as it pains me sometimes."

"What would you like to see happen?" Emma asked. "Ideally?"

Myka thought about that. "I just want to see her more, you know ... be an important part of her life, not just some afterthought."

Emma nodded. "She does love you though, doesn't she?"

Myka hesitated. "I think so, yes," she finally said. "She proposed to me. At work," she added sarcastically.

Emma laughed. "Probably still better than my proposal tonight."

Myka gaped at her. "You asked?"

Emma nodded. "Regina's attentions must have seemed great to you ... right?"

"What do you mean? There was nothing going-"

"I know," Emma calmed Myka. "It's just ... People can be starved by neglect, and the little attentions Regina paid you had to seem so much greater because you weren't getting them from Helena, at least not regularly."

Myka shook her head so furiously, her curls were bouncing. "The only time she sent me flowers, she signed them with Regina's name."

"I can understand why you tried to make her jealous," Emma said. "Do you think a job change would help Helena? Say, what do you do for a living?"

"I'm a child advocate," Myka said, a little confused as to what Emma was after. "I mostly work with groups that fight for children's rights."

"That's admirable," Emma said. There was an idea forming in her mind.

"But I don't know if Helena could ever be happy without that blasted newspaper," Myka said resignedly.

"Not even with a job that allowed her to spend more time with you?"

Myka sighed. "I really don't know."

O O O

"What do I do?" Helena repeated.

"Do you love her?"

Helena nodded.

"Do you love her more than the Star?"

This time Helena hesitated a second too long.

"You really are an idiot," Regina hissed.

"No, no," Helena protested. "It's not that ... I do love Myka more than anything ... but I need a job that I like doing."

Regina raised an eyebrow. "You enjoy the drivel you have to spout for the Star?"

Helena looked up. Regina had a point. "Not all of the time," she admitted.

"Good." Regina got up. "Were you even a little jealous when you thought Myka was falling for me?"

Helena stood, too. "You have no idea how close you came to being strangled," Helena ground out. "Half the reason I did the things I did over the past few days were because I was so damn jealous, not because of the suit."

"Maybe you should do something to show her, then," Regina said slowly. "Say, Helena, how often have you dreamed of hitting me?"

"The whole time we've known each other or just in the last half hour?" Helena smirked. "The answer to both is the same: lots of times."

"Okay, do it."

Helena stared at her. "You want me to hit you?"

"Yes, but be careful," Regina cautioned. "I'm pretty sure Emma could beat you up, if she thinks you deserve it."

"And how is that supposed to help?"

"At least Myka would see that you're fighting for her, quite literally." Regina tensed for a blow, but then held up a hand. "Oh, and once she forgives you, you will take her out, you will woo her, and you will make sure she never has reason to doubt your love for her again. Understood?"

Helena nodded. "Can I hit you now?" she asked. "Because I can't stand any more preaching about my love life."

"But sadly, you need it. I could ... ouch!"

In the room next door, Emma stilled Myka. "Listen, they're fighting."

Helena had slapped her, quite a bit harder than she had expected her to. "Shut up," Helena yelled for good measure. "You don't deserve someone as good as Myka!"

"Well, you don't seem to want her," Regina replied loudly, holding her cheek. She took a lamp from a side table and dropped it to the floor.

"Helena!" Myka yelled, anger replaced by worry. She stormed into the other room to find Regina and Helena facing each other, fists clenched. Emma followed more slowly.

"Regina, what did you do to Helena?" Myka demanded.

Helena got between them. "No, it's my fault, darling," she said, taking Myka by the shoulders. "I'm just a stupid reporter, Myka, but I love you."

"Let me look at you," Myka said softly.

Regina looked at the scene incredulously. "She hit me, not the other way round."

Emma walked over and wrapped her arms around Regina from behind, resting her chin on Regina's shoulder. "I'm sure you deserved it."

Regina turned her head and winked, pointing at Helena and Myka who were talking softly. She smiled. "Kiss me and make it better?"

Emma pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Better?"

"Not much."

"I'll kiss it better all night once we're finally alone," Emma whispered. "I gotta say that this was not quite what I envisioned my wedding night to be like."

Regina winced. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Emma patted Regina's stomach. "You think they can work it out?"

Regina shrugged. "They love each other," she said. "It's just Helena's job that gets in the way."

Emma looked at the two women thoughtfully. "You think they'd like a change of employers?" she asked after a minute.

Regina looked back at Emma again. "You have something in mind?"

Suddenly the door to the suite flew open and David came in. "What is this? What's going on here?"

"Hey, Dad," Emma said from her position behind Regina.

David stared at his daughter and Regina, then Helena and Myka. "You ... you just disappeared," he said, pointing at Myka. "And you," he growled, addressing Regina. "Step away from my daughter."

Regina raised her hands and took a step away from Emma, but her wife held on. "Don't talk to my wife like that, Dad," Emma chastised him.

"Your wife?" David asked. "I thought that was her wife?" He pointed at Myka.

"I did try to correct you," Myka said, "but you didn't really let me talk."

"So the Burns-Norvells were talking nonsense again," David muttered, sagging in relief. "I'm so glad."

"Well, not quite," Regina said.

"But it's a long story," Emma added before David could say something. "One that we're going to share at some point down the road. One that is not our wedding night."

David sank heavily into a chair, shaking his head. "I'm too old for this kind of stress." He looked around. "Anybody want a drink?"

In the end, Emma and Regina never got around to enjoying their wedding night, but Myka and Helena managed to start talking.

David got drunk and forgot that he wanted to kill Regina.

O O O

Four months later

"Swan."

"Hello, dear. Everything ready?"

"Yes, we're just waiting for you two. Where are you?"

"About five minutes out. I can't wait to see you."

Emma chuckled. "It's not even been 24 hours, honey."

"Way too long." Regina blushed. "It was the first night we spent apart since we got married, and I still can't believe that you made me go through this for the repeat performance."

"Did you miss me?" Emma smiled at the thought, glad she wasn't the only one who had trouble sleeping. She ran a hand over her white dress.

"Absolutely," was Regina's short and somewhat muffled reply.

"Helena is making faces at you, isn't she?"

"Indeed."

"Hurry up," Emma said with a grin. "I missed you, too."

She hung up and turned to the woman standing next to her. "They'll be here soon."

Myka nodded. "I'm nervous," she admitted. "Were you nervous? Are you nervous?"

Emma laughed. "I had no time to be nervous the first time," she replied. "It all happened too fast and I was just so relieved that Regina had said yes. And today ... well, that's just for grins and giggles and my dad's desire for beautiful wedding pictures."

Myka grinned. "God, your proposal ... that must have been nerve-wracking."

"You have no idea." But Emma was glad that marrying Regina had been spontaneous and intimate. Today's big event was only because her father insisted that he needed to make sure his daughter got her dream wedding. He didn't much care that it wasn't her dream wedding, but she accepted it because she knew he was organizing her mother's dream wedding for her and Regina.

"Emma, listen." Myka was suddenly serious. "I really want to thank you, for everything."

"My pleasure," Emma said softly. "Our backyard is just perfect for-"

"No," Myka interrupted. "Not just that, although it's amazing, and I'm glad we're doing this together. I want to thank you for everything." She took Emma's hand. "For being our friend, even after we've had a sort of rough start, for changing our lives ..."

Emma shrugged, a little embarrassed by that much praise. All she had done was offer Myka a new job as the head of the Swan Children's Foundation, and get her father to jump over his own shadow and hire Helena as the new public relations manager for all the various charities the Nolan family ran.

Her father had grumbled a lot, but had finally relented by saying that it was always better to keep enemies close. Helena and Myka had accepted the offers, which resulted in them actually having to work together a good deal, and they were both much happier for it.

Emma smiled at Myka as these thoughts ran through her head. "I did like you from the beginning, Myka," she reassured the other woman. "And Helena ... well, she grows on you." She and Regina have that in common.

"She does," Myka agreed. "I really love her, you know."

"I hope so," Emma said. "Otherwise this wedding is going to be pretty awkward."

Emma's phone beeped once. "They're here." She smiled widely. "Ready?"

Myka nodded and followed Emma out to the backyard, where Regina and Helena were waiting to start the rest of their lives.

The End