Note: Well, I'm finishing it off right here. This story has been a lot of work but I am quite pleased with it. Thank you for all your comments and all the time you've spent reading this. See you around!

Chapter 19

Storybrooke was quiet. The first rays of morning sunshine had started to chase away the shadows of the night and the skies slowly changed from black to a dull shade of grey. Rain fell, the drops drumming in a monotone rhythm against the window of Emma's room at the inn. She watched the drops slide down the glass. She hadn't slept.

Regina watched the blonde from the other side of the room. It had been hours since they returned to the inn with the hope of getting some sleep after the events that took place in the middle of the night. All the residents of Storybrooke had returned to their homes, their voices full of hope and laughter now that the threat that was the Wicked Witch had been stopped. But since they returned to the inn, Emma had barely spoken a word.

She'd quietly let Regina inspect the wound on her leg. It was a nasty second degree burn, fiery red with large blisters. Since she didn't have access to most of her magical tools, Regina had done her best to heal Emma's leg with the few healing spells she knew. It had reduced the blisters and the redness but she could tell from the way Emma walked across the room that she was still in pain.

Regina shifted on the bed. She too hadn't slept. She and Emma had spent a large part of the night just lying on top of the sheets, their arms wrapped around each other, listening to the other woman's heartbeat. They didn't need words in that moment but now that the hours had begun to pass, the silence was beginning to worry Regina.

"Emma?" she said softly and the blonde looked up. From where she sat Regina could see the dark rings around Emma's eyes. "Emma, you really need to try and get some sleep."

"I'm not tired."

Regina swallowed the reply she was about to send Emma's way. Instead she just sighed. "At least come back here. What are you looking at anyway?"

"Storybrooke," Emma said softly. "I'm looking at Storybrooke."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I guess I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"When I came here a few days ago, all I wanted was to go back to New York. Even when my memories came back…" Emma looked through the rain stained glass at the world outside. "I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay here. I was going to ask you to come with me to New York but then I saw you there and I knew that that's not where you belong."

Regina furrowed her brow. "What are you saying?"

"I liked New York, Regina. I liked the life you created for me and Henry and I thought for a little while that you could be part of that too. You could have that life, with us. But now I understand that this is your home. Storybrooke is where you belong." Emma looked across the room and her green eyes fixed on Regina. "Storybrooke is your home. You came back here for me."

"What about you?" Regina hesitated. She couldn't believe she was asking this question. It was almost as surreal as hearing Emma say that she had contemplated going back to New York. "Where is your home, Emma?"

"I never had a home," Emma whispered. "Every house I ever moved into was never mine. Every life I ever lived wasn't mine. They were always created for me, with the expectation of me to fulfil some kind of role. But home…" Her voice trembled. "To walk through a door and to know that you're finally home, that you have found that one place that is truly yours… Home is with you, Regina."

Regina slipped off the bed and walked across the room. The windowsill was small but there was just enough room for her and Emma to sit in it together. She pulled her legs up to her chest and followed the blonde's gaze out of the window. Even on a rainy morning Storybrooke looked endearing. "So you're staying?"

"Yeah." Emma smiled. "I'm staying."

"You can move out of this room," Regina said and a little smile spread across her face. She took Emma's hand into her own and brought her fingers up to her lips to kiss. "There's plenty of space in my house and Henry already has his own room."

Emma looked at Regina. They had literally crossed worlds to be where they were right now; sitting in a small window sill watching the rain fall down on the world outside. The world didn't need to be any bigger or more beautiful than this; she had found what she'd been looking for and seeing it right in front of her, seeing the light reflecting in Regina's eyes, made the pain of the journey to reach this moment worth it.

"You think Henry will want to stay?" Regina asked softly.

"I don't think he'll ever want to leave again!" Emma joked. "He loves it here. He loves you, Regina. I don't think I ever got to say this but you did an amazing job raising him to be the person he is now." She chewed her lip. "If you hadn't taken him in when you did, he would have just been…. another me. Lost in the system somewhere, wondering why nobody ever cared enough to love him."

Regina looked at Emma. In some ways they weren't that different. They'd spent their whole lives wondering when somebody would ever love them enough. She looked down at her hand holding Emma's and silently vowed to herself that there wouldn't be a day where she didn't hold this hand. She wasn't going to let go. Not ever again. The road had been long enough to get to this moment and it was time that it came to an end.

"Are you going to tell me about the life you and Henry had in New York?" Regina asked. "You said you were happy."

"The happiest I have ever been in my life," Emma admitted. "And I have you to thank for that. I know that what you created wasn't real but it was real to me, and to Henry. And it gave me something I never had. The feeling that I finally had done something right, that I was doing an ok job at being Henry's mom. Even when you weren't there, you still made me happy." She looked at Regina. "What was it like back at the Enchanted Forest?"

"Lonely," Regina confessed. "Even around your parents and everybody else, I still felt alone. I know you didn't remember me, and that Henry didn't remember me, but I remembered you and knowing I'd never see you again hurt unlike anything else ever before." She chewed the inside of her cheek. "For a while I actually believed that maybe I had a chance at happiness in Storybrooke, with you and Henry. I know we never truly said how we felt but when I said goodbye to you at that town line…"

"I know." Emma smiled. "That's when I knew I was walking away from the one person who could ever see me for who I am, for what I am, and not be scared off by it. I saw it in your eyes and then seconds later, it was all gone."

The memory of leaving Storybrooke with Henry was a vivid one. Emma wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to forget the image of Regina in her rear view mirror, slowly being swallowed up by the purple smoke. Driving down that road, away from the only place she had ever called home, was one of the hardest things she'd ever done.

There was a knock on the door and the two women looked up find Henry poking his head around. He was still wearing his pyjamas and his hair looked ruffled. It seemed that he was the only person who had any sleep at all.

"Hi moms."

"Good morning, Henry," Regina said. "Sleep ok?"

He nodded. "Can we go for breakfast at Granny's? I'm starving."

"Henry, you're always starving!" Emma grinned. "But sure, go get dressed."

He disappeared back into his own room and even from where they were sitting, Emma and Regina could hear him stumbling about. Emma looked at Regina. "I guess we'd better get ready too. Do you want the first shower?"

Regina merely smiled as she slipped out of the window sill. She walked across the room and disappeared into the bathroom. Seconds later Emma heard the shower being switched on and she smiled to herself as she walked to the wardrobe. She didn't bring much with her from New York but she had a couple of clean sets of clothes. She chose a pair of jeans and a black shirt and left them on the bed.

Moments later the door to the bathroom opened again and Regina appeared, clad in only a towel. A sheepish smile lingered across her face. "Emma?"

She turned around. The sight of the drops of water glistening on Regina's skin and the dark hair plastered across her forehead almost took her breath away. "Yeah?"

"You don't happen to have any clean clothes, do you?"

Emma grinned. "Take what I left out. I'll find something else." Her gaze lingered on Regina's face and they stared at each other. Time froze for just a few moments. "You finished in there?"

Regina nodded and walked back into the bedroom. As she past Emma, the blonde let her fingers ghost across the warm, wet skin of Regina's shoulders and both women shivered. She then stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. The bathroom smelt of flower scented shampoo mixed with Regina's natural scent and with a smile, Emma stepped into the shower.

Regina had just zipped up the jeans Emma had left out for her on the bed when there was a knock on the door. Jeans weren't exactly her preferred style of dressing herself but for today she would make an exception. She turned around as the door opened and Henry walked in, freshly showered and dressed.

"Mom, can I talk to you?"

"Sure," she answered. "What's going on?"

Henry fumbled with his hands. "You know how when you sent mom and me back to New York?"

"Yes…"

"You changed mom's last name."

Regina smiled. "Yes, I did. I changed it to Mills."

"Do you… errrr.. do you think you could make that happen again?" Henry peered up at Regina through his eyelashes. A blush had spread across his cheek. "It will make us a real family. With the same last name."

Regina looked over her shoulder when the bathroom door opened and Emma appeared, a towel wrapped around her body and a second one around her hair. She then looked back at her, their, son and she smiled. "Of course, Henry," she promised him and put a hand on his arm. "I'll change Emma Swan into Emma Mills."

"What are you two talking about?" Emma's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Nothing," Regina grinned. She stood up and Henry linked his arm through hers. For now this would be their little secret. She let her eyes trail over Emma's frame and in her chest her heart was suddenly aglow. "Now, who wants pancakes for breakfast?"

Fin.