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Emma had always found Regina an inspiration.
When they first met, she respected the woman for being a single mother with a demanding job. Even after Regina tried to run her out of the town, she couldn’t help but think that she was a fantastic mother.
Through fights and curses, Emma admired her. Yes, she had issues, anyone could see that. She had done terrible things, but there was something about the way she carried herself that made Emma want to know how she came to be the person that she did.
It was something to think about when she tried to reconcile with her newly found parents. There was only so much Emma could think about finding her long lost family at 28, so she turned her thoughts to the brunette woman who was her son’s other mother.
She thought about it through more battles, and falling into different realms, when Emma felt like her head was going to explode. Magic was so foreign, that Emma sometimes had difficulty understanding how this was her life now.
The time away from Regina helped her gain some clarity. She’d previously had trouble with her feelings towards the other woman. It was not a nice feeling to realise that the woman she’d been crushing on had murdered so many people.
Her experience in the Enchanted Forest helped. It was almost like falling into mediaeval times, complete with royalty and lack of hygiene. It was a whole different world, and although it didn’t exactly excuse the lives Regina had taken, it put it in perspective. There, these kinds of things were the norm, just like it was hundreds of years ago in Emma’s own realm.
There was still Regina herself that Emma had to reconcile with. She didn’t understand how one woman could be so loving with Henry, but so readily sabotage that relationship. In trying to keep him, she ended up pushing him farther away.
It wasn’t until she met Regina’s mother that she understood a bit more about what made Regina who she was today. Growing up with that horrible woman must have been hard. Emma had had her share of terrible foster parents, but none of them had magic.
After coming back to Storybrooke, Regina proved herself again by allowing them a safe journey back. Sure, she and Gold placed the death curse on the well, but after interacting with Cora, Emma could understand why. In no world would Emma want that woman anywhere near Henry, or the town.
Emma invited her to the welcome back dinner, and Regina showed up with lasagne, even though she clearly didn’t want to be there, surrounded by people who didn’t quite hate her, but didn’t like her either.
No one talked to Regina. Not even Henry, who was still feeling the raw hurt of his mothers previous actions. Which was understandable, but Emma couldn’t help but want to fix things.
So when Regina left with tears gathering at her waterline, Emma went after her. She made up some lame excuse about cake, which Regina rebuffed. And then Emma decided to be honest. She explained what she learned in the Enchanted Forest, and about how she’d been trying to figure Regina out.
She even talked about Henry, and how grateful she was that Regina was the one who ended up with him. Regina really was the best mother, and Emma was more than willing to bet that no one had ever told her that.
Regina’s reaction was a bit unexpected. She lunged forward, capturing Emma in a the biggest hug she’d ever gotten in her life.
“Go out with me,” she blurted out, her arms still full of the little brunette.
Before she could even register what was happening, Regina had jumped out of her arms, eyeing her warily. She was standing away from her now, but not so far that Emma couldn’t reach out to touch her.
“What?” Regina said sharply, almost as if it was a joke that she didn’t understand.
“I…I’ve just always had a crush on you. You’re an amazing mother, and I know how much you love Henry. Even if he doesn’t understand right now. And we just got back from fighting your mother, and I just thought that there’s still so much I don’t know about you. I want to know you, if you’ll let me.”
Regina stared at her so long that Emma wanted to take it all back, leave town and never come back. She shifted uncomfortably, scuffing her shoes on the pavement.
Then her arms were full again, and Regina was whispering, “Yes, yes, of course,” into her shoulders. She swore she could feel a bit of dampness on her shirt, but she was too elated that Regina agreed.
“Okay,” she said, hope filling her heart.
Through the next few months, Emma did learn more about Regina. During dinner dates, and nights in, Regina told her bits and pieces of her past.
She learned that Cora was just as bad as she thought, but that Regina’s father was a light in the darkness. She heard the story of Daniel, the catalyst for her feud with Snow White. And about King Leopold, which had left her upset for quite a while.
The more she learned, the more she understood what made Regina the way she was. The admiration that Emma had always felt grew with each new piece of Regina’s complicated puzzle.
There were still things that she needed to process and talk through. Even though Regina was working very hard to be better, less like the Evil Queen she was, dating someone with so much blood on her hands.
Still, Regina was home, and the family she and Henry gave her was everything she could ever want. Emma found herself in awe of the woman who had never gotten anything from fate, but who made her own happiness.
Regina was forged from fire and steel, and she was the best person Emma had ever loved.