Before we get started here, I just want to clarify something that realized occurred in my previous Author's Note. I use the word "publish" and "post" interchangeably and completely forgot that not everyone associates the word with putting up a story on . I've just always used it since I first started writing fanfic here.

So, I want to apologize for not making it more clear. I haven't actually finished Everything Changes in any way. It has not been published as a book. I'm used to saying the word in reference to fanfic with my beta, Withgirl, so while I was writing the author's note I didn't think much of it.

Sorry for the confusion but ,although I've never given thought to publishing any of my fanfics, it's not out of the realm of possibility in the future. And if and when such a thing were to happen I would definitely let you all know.

It's a little darker here in the beginning so I'm issuing warnings for this chapter: Assault against a minor, emotional abuse against a minor in their care, possession of Class A drug and intake of Class A drug. Minor character death (no one you'd care for)

With all that said and done. Enjoy.

Chapter 1

"Refill?" The waitress asked even though she could clearly see that Emma had only taken a few sips of the coffee in her mug. When she didn't get a response, she looked out the window to where Emma was staring. There weren't many people roaming outside and the only interesting thing around might have been the station across the street, if there was something going on. "Ma'am?"

Emma jumped, finally taking her eyes away from the window. She looked up and then recalled the question. Her eyes fell to her still warm coffee. "No, thank you."

"Are you all right?"

"Long night," Emma said. She turned away, back to the window and the waitress lifted an eyebrow at her but continued her rounds around the café.

It was nearing 8 and it was a reasonable time to call her parents. Neal had better sleeping habits now but most people in Storybrooke didn't dare fall into a routine since usually another curse or villain came strolling in to disrupt the peace. Although, right about now she wouldn't mind having a reason not to call, but she had waited too long anyway. She should've called immediately but the night was such a blur it was the last thing on her mind.

She put down a few bills for her coffee and untouched bacon and eggs with a tip and left the café. The urge to go back across the street had been pulling at her all morning. They told her to stop pacing and eventually she was ordered to go get some air. It was implied she not come back too soon. There was nothing else for her to do though. Regina was refusing to do anything. And she'd seemed so calm through everything that happened last night.

Another part of her really wanted to just go back to her room at the new hotel she checked in to at nearly 4am. Hauling all of Regina's stuff – which was entirely unnecessary to her – was a bitch even with the luggage cart and the nice, cool elevator. The soft bed was so calling her name after the sleepless few hours she had staring at the ceiling. But no, she had to call before someone else threw a curveball in what was supposed to be a simple and easy trip.

After a couple more minutes of thinking, she pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed David's number. It rung three times before he picked up and he yawned into the speaker.

"Sorry. Good morning, Emma," David said, sipping his coffee.

"Morning, Dad." Emma released the breath she'd been holding and she cringed at how her voice sounded. He picked up on that quicker than her mother.

"What's wrong?" He asked. There was movement in the background.

"Is Emma okay? What's happened?" Snow asked. She was obviously too close to David, considering it sounded like she was talking in Emma's ear.

"Guys, I need to tell you something. Is Henry up yet?" Emma shifted to her right, leaning against the corner of the café, eyes still glued to the few people walking in and out of the station.

"He's up. Regina would know if we weren't following her instructions."

"Yeah, she would know." Emma chuckled, but it sounded tired and uneasy – just how she felt. "So, uh, maybe put it on speaker so he can hear, too."

There was a pause and then Henry's cheerful tone surprised her. "Hey, Ma. How's the trip? How many times have you guys stopped so mom could go to the bathroom?" He sounded more awake than she's ever heard him in the morning. Her father must have deviated from the list of breakfast foods Henry was allowed to eat. Herself and Henry were normally in much better spirits after two bowls of some sugary cereal.

"More times than I can count, kid," she said, rolling her eyes at all the stops they had to take on the way to Boston. "Uh, look, kid…I wanted to talk to you about Regina…"

"Okay…" She could hear the frown on his face.

"Don't freak out because I'm already freaking out."

"Emma, what's going on? Where is Regina?" Her mother asked.

"Regina's…she's…She got arrested. And I'm freaking out."

"What?" As she expect there was panic in her parents voices.

And then oddly enough, Henry wasn't freaking out like she thought he would and he asked, "Who pissed her off?"

Emma nearly fainted right there on the side walk.

15 Hours Earlier…

Emma followed loosely behind Regina as the other woman took her time walking to the apartment they were looking for. Part of her didn't like being here at all but it was her idea. She had offered to do this.

After Robin left Emma found Regina having a drink at the bar a few times and they shared shots and complained to each other. Laughed. It was the closest she'd felt to being the friends they thought of themselves as. In her mind, Regina was her best friend. Her only friend that really understood her. And her best friend had been miserable for over a month, she had tried a lot to make that better with shots at the bar and an unexpected visits late on the weekends with ice cream and other junk she learned Regina liked.

It was one night, when they were sitting in the living room, Henry over at his grandparents, with alcohol and ice cream. Eventually, they'd got to sharing a carton of Bourbon Pecan Pie flavor in the middle of Bridesmaids. Regina had turned to her for a moment, staring at her before saying anything.

"I believe you," she'd said. When Emma gave her questioning look she explained, "You said you would prove you had my back. I know. I shouldn't have questioned it."

That's when the idea came to her. It had always been there in the back of her mind – where she purposely kept it – because without the men in their lives it was more fun. For Emma at least, but Robin Hood seemed easier to deal with than a too moody, needy Captain Hook. But as a friend, a good friend, she had to offer because Operation Mongoose was about helping find Regina's happy ending.

So, Regina insisted that she didn't have to do it and then Emma went and tracked down "Robin Locksley" in Boston and there they were. A nice neighborhood, good apartment. Regina stopped in front of the door numbered 314 but didn't knock.

"I can wait outside if you want," Emma said, tucking her hands into her pockets.

"No, it's fine." She sucked in a deep breath, still not raising a fist to the door. "It may seem desperate and inappropriate if I was alone."

"Desperate? Not you. Inappropriate, however, was definitely the Evil Queen's specialty." Regina frowned at her. "I'm just kidding. I got your back."

Regina relaxed at Emma's brief touch to her elbow and nodded, "Thank you for doing this," she said. Emma gave her a light smile and gestured to the door.

Finally, Regina knocked on the door with a bit of uncertainty in her furrowed eyebrows. "Robin?" She knocked a little harder and the door swung open with Robin behind it. He looked surprised, but not the 'I've missed you and now you're here' surprised. Emma noticed it clearly, but Regina was too caught up in her feelings to notice.

"Regina?" Emma frowned at him, seeing he was almost reluctant and nervous to return the hug from Regina. "W-what's going on? What are you doing here?"

Not a single word about missing her or anything.

"I just…I wanted to make sure you and Roland were all right. You never called."

"I've just been busy. Roland has school now…"

"That's great. I'm glad you're doing well."

"Are we interrupting something?" Emma asked, stepping forward. Robin just noticed her there and plastered on a fake smile.

"It's good to see you again, Sheriff."

"I'm sure," Emma mumbled.

"Uh, now. It isn't a good time. Now," he said. He stepped further out of the apartment and pulled the door behind him, like he didn't plan on inviting at least Regina in.

Unfortunately, Emma was very observant. Especially, when she had her contacts in. All nervousness and slight annoyance in his stance, not a single bone in his body seemed to realize Regina had came all this way to see him because she cared about him. Something was wrong. And the moment she thought it, Emma spotted it.

Reckless.

That would account for a lot. Just as Robin had moved in the doorway, Emma spotted something very familiar on the side table under a painting. It was just the right shade of green to make her wary.

"Robin? Who's at the door?"

Regina stiffened at the voice. Not Marian. Robin took a step back into the room, a firm hand on the door to keep the other person from pulling it open. He was strong enough against the hand but, since it came unexpected, Regina's hand in the middle of the door overpowered him. The door swung open. Wide and revealing.

Zelena stood there in a expensive looking dress and a false look of surprise on her face. Emma clenched her fists at her sides, resisting her urge to push Regina behind her to keep Zelena away. She hadn't been there every time Regina and Zelena had been alone but she knew the woman really did make Regina miserable.

"What the hell is this?" Regina asked. She sounded eerily calm, just on the edge of being upset. "Robin?"

"He doesn't have to explain anything to you Regina. It's very simple. He chose me," Zelena said, forcing a bitter taste in Regina's mouth at the way she stroked Robin's chest just to piss her off.

"No, he chose Marian. Roland's mother. You're supposed to be dead."

"Marian's gone, Regina. I knew she would never come back no matter what kind of magic happened," Robin said. At least he had the decency to look ashamed not that it was very believable. "I'm sorry, Regina. You said it yourself you didn't want anyone to tell you who to be with."

"I chose you. And then you choose Zelena? The woman who killed Baelfire. She kidnapped a baby…all for revenge. To take everything from me. What about Roland? How could you be okay with this?" Regina questioned, gesturing to Zelena who sneered at her in offense.

"Roland will adjust. He's young."

"How long have you known?"

"I can tell the difference between my deceased wife and someone else fairly quickly."

"Let's go, Regina," Emma said lowly. Her palms were littered with marks from her nails. She was going to keep her calm, because between them someone had to be. Regina shrugged off her hand.

"So, what? All I had to do to get you to pick me was to disguise myself as your dead wife?"

"If I recall correctly, it's your fault Marian died in the first place," Robin said with narrowed eyes. Regina flinched. "So that's not fair-"

And maybe he was going to say more but Regina was fuming – done with holding in her anger and waiting to be alone to lose her control. Anything he had to say stuck in his throat the moment her open palm collided with his cheek that possibly the whole apartment building heard.

Maybe it ran in the Mills blood that once it was out, there was no reigning it back in. Zelena lunged before Emma could react. Robin stood by uselessly, cradling his cheek. Zelena's hand was wrapped around Regina's throat. Emma pulled her off and grabbed Regina to stop the impending fight before it escalated.

It ran deep in the Mills blood.

Regina got Zelena in the cheek, too. But Robin had it easy because Regina's right hook was brutal when she put force into it. Zelena had a red print on the side of her face matching Robin's and a bleeding lip to go along with it.

Emma wrapped her arms around Regina's waist, even though she wasn't really fighting against her. "We need to go. It's not worth it. They're not worth it," Emma said in her ear.

"You two deserve each other," Regina spat.

"Well, I certainly hope so. I am pregnant after all," Zelena said proudly.

"Fucking hell…" Emma muttered, staring down Robin in the hall behind Zelena. "You son of bitch…"

"I didn't mean for it to happen. It just did," Robin said, like it was a good excuse.

Regina jerked out of Emma's embrace and stalked away down the hall where some of their neighbors were peeking out from their apartments.

"You should go before I call the police. I'm sure with your past that's the last thing you need," Zelena said with a curl in her lip. "Or would you like to take your chances with your anger, Sheriff? Maybe prison wasn't that bad for you, hm?"

Under any other circumstances Emma would have maybe just tried to strangle her and succeed but she had friends in a lot of places.

"No, I'm good but you won't be." Emma turned and followed the path Regina blazed into the floor on her way out. She caught a few curious looks, along with Robin checking to make sure she was leaving. Emma paused for a short moment and said, "Don't mind us. Mr. Locksley has two girlfriends and a wife…" Shocked gasps erupted, and Robin had the audacity to look betrayed. "…who has cancer."

She didn't stick around to see what hell that would bring him but she had worse.

13 hours earlier...

The bar was low lit with softer music than Emma was expecting playing in the background. Menacing in the exterior and not so much on interior. It was Regina's kind of place she guessed. A little more upscale than Emma liked but this was far from being about her. Regina just got a nuke dropped in her lap – and her response had been to punch it.

Through the small groups of people laughing lightly and sharing drinks, Emma found a familiar figure hovering over a drink at the corner of the bar. The bartender said something and refilled the glass. Emma could see the label from across the room. After the day that just happened Emma didn't blame her for hitting the hard stuff but it wasn't Regina like.

Emma took the stool on the corner next to Regina and ordered two shots and a beer. The bartender got them to her quick and moved on to the next customers. Emma slid one of the shot glasses next to Regina's drink and started slow sips on her beer, welcoming the chance that they'd share nothing but silence all night until the bar closed.

And for a while that looked to be the plan for the night as they both sipped and contemplated. But then Regina's hand pulled away from her glass and grabbed the shot instead. In the middle of her drink of beer, Emma picked up her own shot and they both tapped the edges together. Regina threw back the shot and Emma did the same when she was done with her beer.

"How did you find me?" Regina asked.

"I followed you after you left the apartment building, but I hung back for a while. I figured you needed some time alone." Emma shrugged. "I went back to the hotel…took a nap, but then I got worried maybe you got lost or…mugged. Took me a minute to find a bar you'd actually go into."

"And if I had gotten mugged?"

"After what happened…the universe can't be that fucked up."

"Oh, but it is," Regina said with a bitter, humorless laugh. "It really is. For me."

"I've been in shitty places, it does get better."

"That's the problem, Emma. I'm an idiot for thinking that life wouldn't kick me in the teeth again."

"You're making it hard for me to be the optimist here."

"Where's your mother and her hope speeches when you need her?" Regina chuckled. Emma grinned and rolled her eyes, happy that at least it was a genuine laugh from her so soon.

"Does it hurt?" Regina frowned, and Emma gestured near her glass. "Your hand?"

She knew it probably did considering her knuckles were so red, her hand had to be throbbing. Emma watched Regina attempt to flex her hand, but the movement came stiff and she hissed in pain. Regina removed her ring from her finger and pocketed it, leaving her hand bare and even redder under the dim lights.

Emma whistled, impressed by the bruising. She gently took her hand, Regina relaxed at the soothing feel of her cold fingers, and inspected her knuckles. "You have a brutal hook. Maybe you should try kickboxing…or just boxing?"

"I'd rather not punch anything else."

"You can come with me. It'll make you feel better. Didn't whopping Zelena in the face feel good?"

Regina dared to look shy about it. "Maybe a little." A lot. "But is it terrible that a part of me feels relieved he turned out to be everything I thought he wasn't?"

"Uh, I guess not. He's a douchebag anyway."

"I don't think I was ever in love with him," Regina quietly said, looking into her drink. "I think I wanted to be, so I tried harder than I normally would. My reality is that I was just in love with the idea of him. A soulmate."

"I maybe was snooping around in your books one time and saw something that mentioned people can have more than one soulmate. Plus, soulmates and True Loves aren't the same thing."

"Look who's actually paying attention in class."

"I would make you buy the next two shots for that, but we should probably drive back tonight."

Emma could tell it would be a while before she could uproot Regina from her spot, so she finished her beer and entertained her friends need for a few drinks and much lighter conversation. Conversation that would've eventually led them well into midnight if Regina hadn't started to grow quiet out of exhaustion, which was signal that it was time to go back to Storybrooke. Emma knew from experience after a day in hell nothing was better than sleeping off several shots and brandy in your own bed for a few days.

They checked out and hit the road at nearly eleven and Emma drove for little over an hour to cut the nearly four hour trip back to Storybrooke in half. That wasn't the plan. She had hoped to drive all the way back and get there late in the night but after nodding off a few times, stopping for the night didn't seem too bad of an idea. Much better than getting herself and Regina killed.

As expected, when Emma returned with a single room key at a sketchy-ish motel and woke Regina up, the woman was startled by the giant, tacky 'Lucky 8's' sign blinding her. Emma was far too familiar with her complaining, so she didn't take anything Regina said seriously. And she certainly didn't care when it was revealed their last room happened to be only have one full bed.

But Regina was tired, from Robin and from the brown liquor so her fight left her quicker than Emma expected. She was in a t-shirt and shorts, slipping under the sheets when Regina muttered, "I hate you."

"No, you don't," Emma said and pulled the sheets back from the other side of the bed. "It's just one night."

She didn't say anything about the silk pajama pants Regina wore or the designer tank top. Everyone who'd met Regina knew she was too rich and too refined to be sleeping in a motel called 'Lucky 8's' but they were headed on the road to a town in the middle of nowhere…that didn't actually exist.

Regina found herself wide awake. This place wasn't her home or the nice hotel from last night. Her eyes drooped plenty of times, but she refused to sleep. She couldn't. The walls made noise and cars were leaving and arriving at suspicious times of night. And she worried about her suitcase in Emma's car. She'd almost considered going to get it but shadows lingered outside the window a little too long for her comfort.

She glanced at the clock and found 2:43AM blinking back at her. With a small groan, her eyes returned to the dingy ceiling. Emma's soft snoring on her left was almost soothing enough to keep her from jumping at every sound.

Staring at the pattern into the ceiling was almost entertaining until her eyes were on her bed mate who was on her back with strands of hair bobbing up and down from the constant in and out of her breath.

A small smile ghosted over her lips. Without the natural apprehension Emma wore on her face, she looked young. Too young to be used to sleeping in a motel without any worries. Emma was an idiot most of the time but she had her moments – when she wasn't talking – like this, that Regina found endearing. Kind of adorable.

Unconsciously, she reached out and tucked the hair back behind Emma's ear and pulled back swiftly the second she realized what she was doing. Acquainted conflict resettled in her stomach the way it did when Emma's existence just confused her. If she were being honest with herself, Emma had been bringing such conflict since Neverland.

Panic had her pulling away and stiffening, afraid that maybe Emma felt that and would wake up to call her out on it. Although, instead of that happening – it was unlikely anyway – Emma turned on her side and settling close to Regina. And if the creaking of the old motel kept her wide awake, then the creaking of the old motel and Emma Swan cuddled against her would certainly keep her awake for much longer than a couple of hours.

Warm, minty breath tickled her cheek and she stole a glance to the woman who was sound asleep.

"I don't understand my life," Regina murmured. She didn't have the heart to snatch herself away like she would if she was forced to share a bed with anyone else.

So, she stayed.

And after a while Emma's warmth nearly lulled her to sleep until another car door slammed hard. Her eyes managed to slip closed again, when an arm was draped over her stomach but only a moment later the door to the room right next to theirs opened and slammed roughly.

Regina's eyes popped open in annoyance that was short lived from the small sniffling she could barely make out through the paper-thin walls.

Then there was no chance for her to consider sleeping.

Any sleepiness lingering in her vanished when the yelling started. The sniffles turned to cries.

"Emma?" Regina whispered, tapping the woman's arm. Emma, ever the rock, didn't stir. If it wasn't for her snoring, she could've passed as dead. "Emma?"

"You ungrateful little shit." A penetrating voice cut through the barriers of the room. "You just don't listen. I think it's time you're taught your place. Ain't good for stealing. Only thing I can get from you is check and it ain't enough to have to deal with you every day, all day."

"Emma," Regina said more urgently. She sat up, Emma's hand falling between her legs before the other woman turned to her other side at being jostled. Regina shoved her shoulder and only got a tired grumble. Emma wouldn't be coherent after being that deep in her sleep for this long.

Regina got up from the bed walking closer to the wall separating her from the verbal abuse that was going on.

"…take it off. You're going to feel this."

The horror of the possibilities of what that could've meant didn't have time to settle with her as a crack against skin split the air. A loud, pained cry followed it, drowning Regina in a glimpse of a memory. She suffered many abuses at the hands of her mother but it was never something her mother couldn't heal. Nothing that wouldn't go away with a touch of magic.

That memory overtook her long enough for her to forget her mother wasn't there. She wasn't hurting anyone anymore, but someone was suffering at the hands of a parent incapable of giving an ounce of genuine care to their child. She suffered it and her anger and mistakes put Emma through it too. And she couldn't hear it anymore.

The door was left unlocked, providing ridiculously easy access to the room. Regina thought nothing of what she was doing…of what she was about to do. Even when a stumbling, intoxicated man in grubby clothes and a worn belt in his hand. He may not have even gotten a glimpse of her before her fist met his face. He didn't go down but he stumbled, arm raised as if he was threatening to hit her too.

Her throbbing, broken knuckles didn't do much but the lamp did and he dropped.

From what she was hearing from her room, she only expected a sorry excuse of a man – a father – not a woman who was loyal to him. And that was just as bad. She spotted the drugs laid out on the small table against the wall.

A lighter.

White powder.

A spoon.

Pills.

A needle.

The woman was unmoving in the chair, not that Regina really cared for either of the adults in the room. She tore her eyes away from the ruined life and finally spotted the child she came to help.

She was small and shaking from fear and it broke her heart to see such a thing. Something so unforgiving. Regina took gentle steps towards the girl, through broken glass nipping at the bottom of her feet. A rock settled in Regina's stomach at the sight of her torn jeans and baggy shirt. When she felt she was close enough, she knelt.

"He can't hurt you anymore," she said. The child looked up at her slowly, eye wide with fear and worry. "I made him go away. I promise."

It looked as though she would have to find a way to console a crying, traumatized child from afar but to her surprise, the girl threw herself into Regina. She held on tight refusing to let go. Regina couldn't say she understood how her presence even prompted such a reaction but it was possible maybe, just maybe she was the savior this girl had been waiting for.

She didn't cry, not really, just heavy sniffles and light tears that chilled Regina's bare shoulder.

"Are you okay, little one?" Regina asked, easily collecting the child in her arms and sitting down on the seemingly untouched bed.

In the more comfortable position the girl nodded into her chest and held on harder, burying herself further into Regina's warmth.

"That's good." She looked down at the brown curls and bright brown eyes. Instinctively, she thumbed away a tear from the small cheek and wasn't met with a flinch, just a growing calm. "My name is Regina."

"Gina," she said in a mumble, like it was important for her to remember it.

She kept the child in her arms and made sure the possibly overdosed body stayed out of her sight as she was frightened enough for a lifetime.

"Maddox," the girl said quietly. Regina gave her a small smile but didn't say anything.

Of course, this whole situation looked bad, but Regina didn't find herself caring all that much what could happen now.

She just kept her hand against her back with soothing circles as the red and blue lights lit up the room from outside.

I'm a day late. It was a long day yesterday. Hopefully it was worth the wait. Depending on the response there could be an update much sooner than next Friday.