It had been a long day. After she and Snow had made it back to Storybrooke, Emma'd had some cleaning up to do. David had filled in as best he could, but being sheriff wasn't his job. Much to her dismay, Emma's first week back in town had been filled with answering phone calls from annoyed citizens and catching up on the necessary paperwork. All she wanted was to go back to her apartment and relax in a nice, hot bath. Regina, however, refused to allow her even that.

She had just turned the key to lock up the police station when she heard the familiar clicking of Regina's heels on the cold asphalt. Great.

"Ms. Swan."

"Is there something you need, Regina?" she said, trying to be as cordial as possible. She wanted this conversation to be over quickly.

"Yes, you can give me back my son," she spat back.

Annoyed by the unprovoked hostility, she threw her arms up. "Look, Regina, I don't wanna do this right now. Can we just meet you for breakfast tomorrow or something?"

Her suggestion was met with a stare cold enough to freeze hot magma, but to her surprise Regina agreed. "Very well. Tomorrow morning. Granny's. Eight o'clock?"

"Eight o'clock," she replied, nodding. Looking less than satisfied, Regina began walking away, her charcoal grey wool coat catching in the light breeze. Emma pulled her own jacket closer to her body. The last rays of sunlight had long since faded over the tree line - one of the joys of living in Maine - and it was beginning to get cold. Emma sighed and rubbed her temples. She would deal with Regina tomorrow morning. Right now she was going home to take a bubble bath and drink a glass of wine.

The walk back to her and Snow's - and now Charming and Henry's - apartment ordinarily wasn't too long, but with her overwhelming desire to be covered in lavender-scented bubbles, it seemed to be taking an eternity. What she wouldn't give to have her car in working condition right now. She could've been home in five minutes.

Her phone started buzzing in her jacket pocket a couple of blocks away from her destination. "Snow? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Ran into Regina on the way out. No, no, everything's fine. She just wants to meet Henry and me for breakfast in the morning. Milk?" she let out a long sigh. It was starting to look like that bubble bath was never going to happen. "Yeah, I can stop by Granny's to get some on my way back," she turned on her heel and started toward the store, "No, it's not a problem. I might be a while, though. Think I'm gonna grab some coffee while I'm there, maybe talk to Ruby for a bit. I'll see you when I get home." She ended the call and placed the phone back in her pocket, suddenly becoming acutely aware of just how chilly it was getting.

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By the time she made it to Granny's it was pushing seven thirty, close to a full hour after she'd locked the door at the station. She could feel how tired her body was from the stress of the week. She knew if she sat down that she wouldn't be getting up anytime soon, but she did it anyway, unable to remain upright for any longer.

Most of the dinner crowd was still there, chatting away and enjoying each others' company. Ruby bounced over to where Emma was sitting at the bar, chipper as ever. "Hey Emma! You here for dinner? Where's Henry?"

"Nah, I'm just here to grab a cup of coffee and a jug of milk. Snow called me on the way home. Said we needed some."

"Gotcha. So a hamburger, a cup of coffee, and a gallon of milk to go," she replied, busily jotting down the incorrect order on her notepad.

"Ruby, I can't stay. I just wanna get home."

"Nonsense," she quipped, ripping off the sheet of paper and passing it back to the kitchen. "Knowing you, you haven't had a decent meal all day. You're going to sit here and eat something." Ruby was giving her the same accusatory look Snow did when she knew Emma was overworking herself. She rolled her eyes and began taking off her jacket. This was one argument she wasn't going to win.

"Fine. Just bring me some coffee."

"You got it," she beamed back, darting off to get a mug and the requested beverage.

It didn't take long for Emma's food to come out. The burger was cooked well, as always, and Ruby was good company. In between taking orders and delivering food, she'd stop at Emma's seat and ask her questions about what happened in Fairytale Land while her and Snow were gone. She never pushed too far though; it was one of her many gifts.

"Yeah, and so I just kind of socked him and he went down," Emma mused, nibbling on a french fry.

"Emma. You mean to tell me that the Captain Hook was beaten in a sword fight by you?" She stared blankly at Emma in disbelief.

"Yeah... that's what I just said. You think I'm making it up? Ask Snow." Ruby's question had bruised her ego. Emma could handle herself. Who was Ruby to say that she couldn't fight as well as Kill- Hook? She'd spent a good portion of her life taking down wanted men, and she did it well. And yet, Ruby's question made her feel uneasy... No, no. Hook had been trying to kill her, but she knocked him out. He hadn't let her win anything.

"Okay, okay. I'm just saying. He's a pirate. He does the sword fighting thing as a day job... You done?" The question snapped Emma back to real time and she looked down at her plate, noticing that there were only crumbs in the spot where her food used to be.

"Yeah, sure. Can I get another cup of coffee before I go?" With a nod, Ruby swept her plate up and walked to get the coffee pot to top her off once more. She came back with a brown sack and began pouring the dark liquid into the mug. "I grabbed you two percent, hope that's okay."

"Yeah, that's fine. How much is it gonna be?" Emma asked as Ruby poured, pulling out her wallet and taking out her credit card.

"Nonsense. It's on the house. "

"Ruby, I-"

"I won't hear it. Just promise me that you'll come back by tomorrow and chat," she waggled her eyebrows. What had gotten into her?

"Yeah, that won't be a problem. Regina wants to have breakfast with Henry and me tomorrow morning," Emma said, faking interest in the prospect of having a sit down breakfast with her son and his step-mother. Ruby scrunched her face. "Tell me about it." They both had a laugh at that.

Emma finished draining the last drops of the caffeinated liquid from her cup and stood up to put her jacket back on. Ruby bustled back over, not about to let Emma leave without saying goodbye. "So I'll see you again tomorrow? You've got to tell me more about this Killian person." Killian? Had Emma called him Killian? His name was Hook...

"Ruby, he's a bad guy. He tried to kill Snow and me," she spoke the words slowly, hoping Ruby'd get the message.

"Right, the most dreaded pirate in all of Fairytale Land lost a sword fight to Emma Swan," she said sarcastically, propping her hand on her hip and raising an eyebrow.

"Ruby, he-"

"See you at breakfast!" Before Emma could come up with a retort Ruby was on the other side of the store attending to one of the dwarves. Sleepy, was it? Emma could never keep them straight in her head. She grumbled at Ruby's misplaced interest in Kill- Hook. It was Hook - and sluggishly grabbed the brown paper bag off the counter. It dragged her arm down quickly with the weight of the milk and she had to shift it so that she was cradling it in both hands in front of her. She would deal with Ruby - with everyone - tomorrow. Now she was going home to take that bath.

She pressed her back against the metal bar on the door and walked backwards until she was outside, noticing the time on the clock on the back wall as the it swung shut. Christ. How had it gotten to be nine thirty? Had she really been in there for two hours? She took a step in the direction of home, throwing her head back and inhaling the cool night air. The coffee had been a good idea. She could feel her limbs thrumming from the caffeine. Even though Ruby had gotten the entirely wrong idea about Killian, she was good company. Shit. Had she just called him Killian again? What was wrong with her? She brought her head back down and faced it forward, focusing on the empty, ill-lit street in front of her.

She pulled out her phone to call Snow and tell her she was walking home, but noticed a text: "Going to sleep now, see you in the morning. Don't forget the milk." She couldn't help but smile to herself. It was as though they really were a family - a mom texting her daughter about grabbing milk on the way home. She tucked the phone back into her pocket and refocused her vision on the street in front of her. That's strange. There was someone walking in front of her now. Had they always been there?

"Hey," Emma projected loud enough for whomever it was to hear her. They didn't turn around. "Hey!" This time a little louder and with more force behind it. They started to speed up. Were they trying to get away from her? "HEY!" They broke off into a run. Emma dropped the milk and took after them, drawing her weapon in the process. It was a bad idea to run from the sheriff - made you look guilty.

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Whoever it was, they were fast. Emma was practically in an all out sprint trying to catch up. They were leading her into an unfamiliar part of town. If she had to guess, she'd say it was the marina, but she couldn't be sure because there was too much damn fog everywhere. If she didn't catch up soon, she'd lose them for good. They turned the corner around a dark blue building, escaping her line of sight momentarily. When Emma followed seconds after, they were nowhere to be seen.

"Shit. Shit shit shit." She pushed her fingers through her hair in frustration. Where the hell could they have gone? No sooner had that question run through her mind than did she feel a vice like grip on her wrist, twisting her arm behind her back and forcing her to drop her gun. She tried to pull away, only to then feel the cool press of metal against her exposed throat.

"Chasing after me, love? I didn't figure you for the type." He breathed the words in her ear, pinning her arm more firmly against her back.

"Hook." She knew she should be afraid, but she wasn't. Instead, anger was beginning to simmer beneath the surface. He had tricked her.

"We've a lot to talk about. Emma."