When Henry had first brought Emma to Storybrooke, she immediately noticed the sadness on his mother's face. The brunette invited her into the house for a drink, which made her decide to question the sadness.
"So, Miss Swan, are you going to be a problem to me?" Regina questioned the blonde sitting across from her.
"No, I don't tend to stay in one place very long. Except of course if I think that the kid is unsafe."
Regina raised an eyebrow. "You think my son is unsafe?"
Emma rolled her eyes. "No, I don't but I do know that he's not happy and neither are you."
The brunette raised her eyebrow once more. "What makes you think that we're unhappy?" She questioned the blonde.
"Well, for starters Henry told be and I can see it in your eyes. What makes you so unhappy?" Emma questioned.
"Why do you care, Miss Swan?" Regina responded in a bored tone.
"Because I want what's best for the kid," Emma squinted her eyes. "Where is Henry's father?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you this?" Regina continued in the same bored tone.
"I meant his adoptive father. The nurse told me my son got adopted by a loving couple." Emma said, cautiously trying to find out more about the brunette.
"My husband…" Regina started, tears forming in her eyes. "he passed away in a car accident two years after we adopted Henry."
"I'm so sorry for your loss." Emma said gently, looking down at her feet. She felt bad for making the brunette relive the pain of losing a loved one.
"I don't need your pity, Miss Swan. You don't know anything about me or my son." Regina snapped.
"It's not pity, Regina, I know what it feels like to lose a loved one." A tear rolled down Emma's own cheek.
"You don't! Losing a parent, a friend, it's not the same as losing your husband." Regina snapped.
"I'm an orphan. Lost my only friend at age fifteen. I was talking about love too." Emma said.
Regina looked up to the blonde. "I'm sorry for snapping at you," she whispered. "Did you ever have a good family?"
"Yes, but not until my seventeen. That's when I got adopted by the Cameron's."
Emma started, but got interrupted by Regina.
"Cameron's? Then why is your name Swan?" Regina asked confused.
"I changed everything after…" Emma trailed of, but Regina knew exactly what she was talking about.
"Okay, continue your story." Regina told Emma.
"When they adopted me they changed my name from 'Emma Swan' to 'Allison Cameron'. I got into medical school. That's where I met my first husband. He was terminally ill, but I married him anyway. He died a few months before my graduation."
Emma took a deep breath, a few more tears rolling down her cheeks. "I started working at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital a few weeks after my graduation. Worked for an ass named Gregory House. That's where I met my second husband, my colleague, doctor Robert Chase."
"Did he die also?" Regina asked carefully.
"No, I divorced him for killing a patient." Regina's eyes widened at this confession. Emma sighed.
"I quit my job and became head of the ER. So did Chase and Foreman, making House hire a new team. That's how I met Remy, also known as Thirteen or Dr. Hadley." A small, sad smile appeared on Emma's face.
"She was the smartest and most beautiful woman I ever met." More tears formed in her eyes. "She was perfect, except she had a genetic disease. I fell in love with her anyways."
Regina noticed how hard it was for Emma to tell her all of this, because she understood. She sat next to the blonde and placed a tentative, but comforting hand on the other woman's.
"She played hard to get, even though I wasn't even aware yet of my attraction to women." Emma said, chuckling as she remembered their first few encounters. "She finally decided to ask me out. We dated for a while, got married. A few years later, her disease got the best of her. She died two years ago. That's when I changed my name back, became a bail bondsperson and never staid anywhere for very long."
It was quiet for a minute, before Regina realized something. "What about you adoptive parents? And who is Henry's father?"
Emma sighs. "My parents didn't exactly agree with me marrying my first husband. Haven't talked to them since I told them that I was going to marry him anyway."
"I know the feeling of your parents disagreeing with the person you love. My mother thought my fiancé wasn't high class enough for me." Regina said.
Regina waited for Emma to continue, when she didn't she said: "You were going to tell me who Henry's father is?"
"Oh, right. Henry's father is my first husband, Neal Cassidy. He died so you won't ever have to worry about him." Regina nodded satisfied with the answer.
"What about your story?" Emma asked curiously.
"I am the daughter of this town's Mayor. My mother expected nothing less from me. My dad died when I was a child. I met Daniel when I was twenty. He worked at the local stables. I loved horses. We fell in love, got married behind my mother's back. She found out, said I was out of his league. I became mayor to please her, but she still wasn't happy. She was the one driving the car that killed Daniel. My mother was put into jail. End of story."
Emma looked up at Regina. "Seems like your life sucks just as much as mine."
The two of them talked until three o'clock in the morning. Regina suggested Emma staid the night in her spare bedroom. Just before falling asleep that night Emma thought, this could be the beginning to a great friendship.