Illusions

Epilogue

The road to recovery is always an uphill battle, never an easy path, but the bond created during such strenuous times only helped heal Emma, Henry and Regina in the end. They stuck by each other, supported each other and strengthened the bond between their relationship.

After everything that occurred with Bae, came to a close, Emma headed back to her life in New York. She allowed the two weeks leave to heal from her injuries, both mentally with Remy and physically from the car accident. She spent those days weighing the pros and cons of her future, but she knew in her heart what had to be done.

She marched into her Captain's office and informed him that she could no longer be an undercover detective. She explained her reasons, stressing about the dangers and how that was no longer suitable if she ever wanted to settle down. And she was ready to settle down. David was compassionate and understood her plea, but he already knew all of that was coming and he had a little surprise for her.

"Swan, you've been under my wing for almost ten years now," David cryptically said, failing miserably to contain the grin stretching deep into his cheeks. "I'm not about to let you walk out that door without a fight."

"Okay..." she skeptically drawled, eyeing him warily, "But I-"

"I would like to officially promote you to Lieutenant."

"Lieutenant," she repeated flatly because her brain couldn't quite comprehend what was truly happening.

"Yes, Lieutenant of the Investigation Squad."

"You're joking, right?"

"Come on, Swan, you know you're the best damn detective out there and I'm not about to watch you just throw away your career."

"But the promotion is here...in New York?"

"Yes, but your risk of danger will be cut in half. Of course, you will still go out and interrogate people, but you won't be undercover anymore. No more gambling with your life. You'll have your own squad and supervising them. You'll mostly be behind the desk for your safety," he thoroughly explained to persuade her into staying.

It was an opportunity she couldn't pass up, but she went home that evening and discussed everything with Regina. It had been the longest conversation she had ever had on the phone, but in the end, Regina had convinced her that it was a dream job and she couldn't pass up the promotion. Her girlfriend was supportive, beyond understanding, and assured her that their relationship would be just fine.

The first six months of Emma's job as Lieutenant, was difficult...straining, as she attempted to adjust to the new work load while juggling a relationship. However, Regina was amazing, offering to visit every other weekend with Henry until Emma felt more stable. And during that time when Emma was figuring out her new career, Regina and Henry were back in Storybrooke, working on themselves and rebuilding their small family.

After facing the reality that Emma wasn't his mother and that the curse wasn't real, Henry decided to give Dr. Hopper and his therapy sessions, a real chance. He started opening up more, explaining how his grandmother's disease frightened him and how losing his grandfather broke him. It took him awhile, but eventually he did open up about meeting his birth mother and how his dreams of her were shattered, which completely tore him apart.

Regina worked hard on rebuilding her relationship with her son, vowing to reduce her hours at work and even hiring an assistant to help alleviate some of the pressure. Luckily, with Henry's healing process, he was more accommodating and he actually enjoyed visiting Cora, which was one less thing for Regina to stress about when she needed to tend to her mother.