Chapter Text
The hall looked smaller.
Emma noticed that first.
Same space.
Same lights.
Same awkwardly placed high tables.
But it didn’t feel the same. Because this time—
She wasn’t standing at the edge of it.
She was walking in.
⸻
Not alone.
Her fingers were laced securely with Regina’s, their steps unhurried as they crossed the threshold together.
No hesitation.
No second-guessing. Just here.
“Still hate these things?” Regina murmured, glancing at her.
Emma huffed softly “Yeah,” she admitted. “Probably always will.”
Regina smirked faintly. “And yet, here you are.”
Emma squeezed her hand “Yeah,” she said.
Then, softer “…here I am.”
⸻
Not hiding.
Not shrinking.
Not waiting for something to go wrong.
Just—
Standing.
⸻
They moved further into the room, a few familiar faces turning, recognition flickering.
But it didn’t land the same way anymore. No whispers that mattered. No weight. Because Emma wasn’t that girl anymore.
And Regina—
Wasn’t someone she admired from a distance.
———
She was—
Everything.
⸻
Emma glanced sideways at her.
Still composed.
Still steady.
Still the same in all the ways that mattered.
And completely hers.
⸻
The music started. Something slow.
Something Familiar.
Emma smiled faintly.
“Don’t tell me—”
Regina raised a brow. “What?”
Emma tilted her head toward the speakers.
“Feels like a pattern.”
⸻
The opening notes of Purple Rain drifted through the hall.
Regina’s lips curved.
“Well,” she said lightly, “we were interrupted last time.”
Emma let out a quiet laugh.
“Yeah,” she said. “We were.”
⸻
A beat.
⸻
Then Regina extended her hand. This time, there was no hesitation.
Emma took it immediately. They moved to the floor together.
No awkwardness. No uncertainty.
Just—
Ease.
⸻
Emma rested her hand against Regina’s shoulder, her other still held securely in Regina’s grasp as they swayed gently to the music.
No racing thoughts.
No spiralling.
Just this.
⸻
Emma let out a slow breath, her head resting lightly against Regina’s.
Home.
———
The word came easily now.
Not questioned.
Not pushed away.
Just true.
⸻
Her mind drifted briefly back.
Back to the moment she’d finally said it.
Not in panic.
Not in fear.
But quietly and with certainty.
⸻
I love you.
⸻
Regina had smiled then.
Soft.
Certain.
Like she’d known all along.
————
Emma’s chest warmed at the memory. And then-
Another.
⸻
The wedding.
⸻
Sunlight.
Laughter.
Regina’s hand in hers—
Just like this.
⸻
The best day of her life. Not because everything was perfect. But because, for once, she hadn’t run.
Because she stayed.
⸻
Emma’s fingers tightened slightly in Regina’s. Regina glanced down at her.
“What?” she murmured.
Emma shook her head, smiling.
“Nothing.”
A beat.
Then—
“…everything.”
⸻
Regina’s expression softened. They kept moving.
Slow.
Steady.
⸻
Exactly as it should be.
And for the first time, there was no part of Emma waiting for it to fall apart.
Because it didn’t.
Because she didn’t.
She stayed.
⸻
And this—
This was what came after.