I wished not to be alone on my birthday. I never expected that 'not alone' meant I'd soon find the love of my life, soulmate, whatever you chose to call it. It started as hate but the line between love and hate is so thin. Nearly as thin as line between good and evil and for me, that line is snapping like a twig. But if a twig falls in an inhabited forest, does it make a sound? If I never let anyone get close to me, will nobody hear my cries?

I knocked twice on the large white door and just when my fist was going on for a third one a woman opened the door. She had short black hair, her lips were painted a surprisingly appealing scarlet red and her very fortunate hourglass physique was made obvious by the tight skirt on her.

"Henry! You're home!" the woman opened her arms expecting a hug but instead received a cold look from her adoptive son. "And you are?"

I tried to stumble across some words, any words to explain that I am the boy's biological mother.

"I'm Henry's mom."

Shock flooded Regina's expression, making her beautiful eyes sink and her upper lip appear thinner. A tense smile came onto her face.

"Well, I'm Regina. You are Henry's biological mother. I am his mother. Would you like to come in? I have some apple cider I'd love to have someone taste."

I didn't exactly feel like I had a choice, it felt more like a command and less like an actual proposition. Regina's living room was large with not enough furniture to fill all the space. I sat down on her white couch slowly and carefully nearly as if I was expecting it to explode at my touch. Regina bought in two crystal glasses and set them on the table pouring apple cider in, nearly spilling it over the edges of the glass.

"Sorry, I like my liquor in large proportions. But that does not affect my parenting." Regina had quickly added the second part and it came to my mind that maybe this woman was just as nervous to meet me as I was to meet her.

As I brought the glass to my lips, the doorbell rang and Regina quickly attended to it. A tall man with brown hair, a strong physique and a sheriff's badge didn't wait a second to pull Regina in for a fierce kiss and as soon as their lips touched I looked away allowing them to have their, well, moment. One of the his hands was holding onto her ass and the other was making it's way down her tight, black skirt.

Regina quickly pulled back and looked toward the living room where I sat, silently, and I heard agitated whispers followed by a door closing. I was trying to forget what I'd just seen, the tight grasp the stranger had at her waist, that look of utter pleasure that had appeared on the woman's face for a minute before turning into embarrassment, the man who was biting Regina's lower lip and whatever his hand was reaching for down her skirt. I found it fucking hot.

"That was very inappropriate of me and I'd like to apologise" Regina adjusted her skirt and sat on one of her armchairs before taking an abnormally large sip out of the cider.

"Was that your husband? Henry's father?" I felt the conversation go slowly like time had stopped to which a quick fix was drinking from my glass. I was surely drinking the strongest apple cider I ever tasted.

Regina shook her head.

"No, that's Graham, the sheriff of the town. We're involved, that's all."

"Sheriff of Storybrooke, right." I thought to myself still not understanding the irony that Henry believed everyone here is a character from stories and the name of the damn place!

We both sipped on our ciders throughout the evening and into the night until I realised just how late it was. I stood up and fell, that cider was clearly much stronger than what I'd expected. Regina came and helped me stand up and she sat next to me onto the couch.

"Are you sure you should be driving home in your state?"

I told her how I had to get home and I couldn't stay here. As I was talking my hand softly brushed her thigh and I felt shivers spreading throughout Regina's body.

"Sorry." I smiled awkwardly, I stood up and walked to the door. "Thank you very much for having me and well goodnight."

I made my way through her garden, past her apple tree and I could see her waving from the door. I waved back and saw Regina close the door. The blurry figure of my yellow car waited for me by the road. The corners of my eyes darkened and soon my vision was blocked and I felt myself walk into someone. Though I had no idea who it was, I heard myself apologise and try to stumble to my car. The somebody grabbed my hand and asked me something along the lines of 'are you okay?' and I remember nodding and smiling, basically trying my best to convince the stranger that I was sober and fine.

The man sat me down and brushed some hair of my face and was talking what sounded like gibberish to me in my state. I could hear words here and there but the voice, deep yet so soft, was nearly hypnotising. Suddenly rain started pouring from the sky, slightly clearing my sight and helping the nausea I was feeling go away.

"Come on give me the keys to your car I'll sit with you for a while but I'll have to keep the keys so you don't drive away alright?"

I handed my keys over to the voice and he opened the car and we sat in the backseat away from the rain. The inside of the car felt colder than the outside air but at least we weren't soaking in there.

As the voice kept talking in it's calming way and kept touching my hair, I went in for a kiss. He returned my plead and our lips locked with our tongues working together inside our mouths. His hand travelled up my thigh and I could feel him unbutton my trousers and pulling off my red leather jacket. He took off his clothes and he fulfilled me with gentle kisses down my neck to my breasts and lower. As pleasure flooded my mind, all I could imagine was Regina's tight skirt lying on the bottom of my car and her scarlet lips stroking my bare chest and I did see clothes on the bottom of my car but they weren't Regina's. Instead, all I could make out lying in the middle of our clothes was a sheriff's badge.