"I don't really like driving in snow. There's something about the motion of the falling snowflakes that hurts my eye, throws my sense of balance all to hell. It's like tumbling into a field of stars." - Sandman #51: "A Tale of Two Cities"

….

"Is that door portal still in the big house?" Emma wondered aloud as she paged through The Book. She'd now read the story of the Snow Queen three times and realized how much she missed Elsa. The woman wasn't much good for conversations about pop culture; she hadn't grown up listening to 'New Kids on the Block' or even 'Backstreet Boys', but having those types of background commonalities weren't as important as the ones they did share.

They both grew up in isolation, Elsa quite literally, and Emma, well, she was surrounded by a houseful of foster brothers and sisters and still felt completely isolated. Elsa understood that feeling. They were both different: having magic and all the feelings and issues that particular talent brought bubbling up. It was so confusing, and Elsa had been the one to help Emma see some light at the end of the dark and crazy Ingrid tunnel.

Emma looked across her desk to Regina, waiting for a response. The blonde worried her lip between her teeth, feeling anxious. Elsa wasn't the only one Emma had commonalities with. She was very aware that she shared those differences and struggles with Regina too. With Elsa gone, she desperately wanted to open up to Regina. She had tried so hard, but the fact remained, Elsa had been so much easier to talk to. Well, at least she was when she wasn't obsessing over her sister, but to be fair Emma had done her share of obsessing over Regina. Elsa even understood that, and had convinced her to continue pursuing Regina even when she was certain their hard fought level of trust was broken forever.

"What portal?" Regina murmured the question a long moment later as if she had just registered the fact that Emma had spoken. She rolled her pen between her fingers and continued to read over documents and clues that would hopefully point her to the author of The Book.

"The one that leads to Arendelle," Emma elaborated, stretching her arms over her head and looking up to gauge Regina's reaction.

"Planning a visit to your friend?" Regina smiled coldly, the corners of her mouth upturned in politeness, but her eyes remained hard as she momentarily met Emma's gaze and then quickly shifted back to the document she was looking at.

"No!" Emma replied forcefully for no reason. She checked her tone, "I mean, is it even possible to visit?"

"How many times do I have to explain that inter realm travel isn't exactly easy," Regina slammed her book shut, her concentration broken. She rubbed the bridge of her nose, and felt agitation crawling over her like a skin rash. Regina wasn't good at identifying her emotions as they came over her; she realized this when she was working with Archie trying to control her use of magic, and it bothered her to no end. She needed to be in control of her feelings and she hated that she wasn't sure what exactly was bothering her. Emma was just asking an innocent question, and she supposed that she did miss her sparkly blue dressed friend. She could emphathize with that…a bit. But the real question she wanted to ask, though she couldn't because it was totally unfair: Why would Emma miss Elsa when she had Regina to be her friend now? That's what Emma had so desperately wanted all this time, wasn't it?

"I know, I just wondered if that portal thing was like permanently there, because it seemed pretty easy for her to get back. Forget I mentioned it," Emma flopped back down in her chair and leaned back, resting the backs of her hands on her forehead and extending her legs. She was definitely restless.

A silence enveloped the Sherriff's office, both women lost in their respective thoughts. A person could have more than one friend, she knew that obviously, but Regina had had so few in her life that one at a time was all she could fathom. She grudgingly acknowledged that she had come to rely on Emma and how blessedly happy she felt when she had agreed to help find the author and subsequently: her happy ending.

"What did you like so much about her?" Regina asked quietly, she tried to keep the question even, simply polite and curious, but her voice lifted at the end of the question with a jealous edge. She pursed her lips in displeasure as Emma raised an eyebrow and shot her a look.

"I liked talking to her, and she always had good advice. She helped me a lot with my magic and…stuff."

"Hmm, I see," Regina swallowed, she recognized the feeling welling up inside her now as clear as day: envy. She tamped it down, put it away in a little box in her mind. That was one of Archie's visualization exercises that had proved extremely helpful: visualize putting the bad emotions out of sight and out of mind. That particular trick had kept her from incinerating Marian outside of Granny's when she had rudely called her a monster.

Emma rubbed her chin and patted her stomach as she tried to gear up to confess; she felt a prickle of heat, but she needed to tell her, "She helped me with you too."

"Emma, I hardly remember that whole debacle in my vault and besides I was cursed. I can't be held accountable for my actions," Regina shook her head apologetically, assuming Emma meant when she had magicked off their ribbons. "Although, the choice of topic that you brought to my attention in that moment is another discussion entirely; one that I am in no mood for presently."

"Yeah…me either," they had been avoiding speaking about that for awhile. "I'm sorry, by the way. I know you were basically drugged with that curse and half out of your mind, but I am sorry for what I said."

"At least no one died," Regina shifted and crossed her legs before clearing her throat and adding quietly, "you're forgiven."

Emma smiled and felt the urge to place her hand over Regina's, knowing that granting forgiveness wasn't a thing she did freely, if ever. Instead, she took a sip of Mountain Dew and continued with her original point, "I actually meant that Elsa helped me that night when you and I went on our walk in the woods. Elsa convinced me to never give up on you."

"Oh," Regina sunk down further in her chair, wondering why Elsa had cared enough to persuade her, and what Emma had told her about their tenuous relationship.

"I guess I kind of miss her, and you would too if you had gotten to know her. She's like us, she could relate to me- everything that I'm going through," Emma continued with a heavy heart, feeling the weight of missing Elsa more than ever. "Have you ever known someone like that? Someone that you could tell anything to and you just knew they wouldn't judge or write you off?"

Regina didn't answer for a long time. Finally, she spoke directing her answer pointedly to Emma, "I think I do now, yes."

This time Emma did reach across and place her hand over Regina's. They shared a moment of recognition, and Emma felt safe enough to continue, "Just like everything with my parents having baby Neal. I love him. I do. He's my brother, but…"

"It's feels like you've been replaced by someone else who is more deserving of love," Regina's voice had a faraway frightened quality. She hated when she sounded like that, but she was more focused on getting the words out. She felt the desperate need for a connection with Emma. A connection that they'd always had, but it had been buried under a thick pile of hurt.

Emma's eyes widened, "Yeah, that's-that's exactly what it feels like."

A small chuckle resonated deep in Regina's throat as if stuck; a faint bit of clarity filtered into her mind: confirming and sharing was how she was going to dig herself out of that mountain of pain. "That's exactly how I felt when Henry first brought you to town, and it's the same feeling I had when you brought Marian back."

Emotions swirled in Emma, constricting her chest and laboring her breath, "Is that how you felt about Elsa? I mean because you and I were in such a good place with defeating Zelena and then I…"

Regina cut her off by moving her hand over Emma's and squeezing, she shook her head, "Honestly, I was blinded by my own pain insofar to care…up until recently."

Emma needed to look away; she felt tears threatening to spill. She turned her head to the right and up toward the window, where snow was falling heavy and stark against the blue of dusk. "She was a good friend."

"I've never said this to anyone and meant it honestly until now: I can be a good friend to you, Emma." Regina had other feelings, harder to bring up and voice because they were difficult for her to understand. She wanted to be close to Emma in the way Elsa had been. She would have to sort through them later when she was alone. It was so much more confusing when she was near Emma, though the woman had a way of bringing forth her goodness. She decided then that she would no longer let the dark part of her heart try to extinguish that glimmer of light. She'd let it grow and brighten when she was around Emma. She felt a certainty in that.

"You are," she met Regina's shining eyes. The office was too quiet, and the emotion too much. If Regina hadn't been so caught up in the moment she would have recognized it as what Archie referred to as a 'breakthrough.'

Unable to stand the tension, Emma needed levity, "When are you going to teach me how to poof so I can get to Granny's without having to walk or drive?"

Regina visibly relaxed, and she quirked an eyebrow, "People practice magic for many reasons: to gain power, revenge, wealth, but you are the only one I've met whose motives are borne of sheer laziness."

They shared a laugh and it felt good, like the moment when you finally arrive at a long awaited destination. It felt like relief.

"Seriously, I'm hungry. What do you say we take a break from happy ending hunting and get some burgers?"

"I'd like that."