A/N ~ This is set in an odd time line for the show. It's after Emma and Mary Margaret come back from the Enchanted Forest, but Neverland and Cora coming to Storybrooke just kind of never happened.

Please, please, PLEASE leave feedback in the reviews to let me know what you think!

Enjoy! X

Regina and Henry stood at the foot of the stairs in Regina's mansion as Emma dropped her old, beaten up, black duffel down next to the door with a thud, followed by her red leather jacket, which landed in a haphazard pile on top of it. Henry was tucked firmly into Regina's side, her hand holding the back of his head as her nails scratched lightly at Henry's scalp. Emma turned to face them, smiling, and opened her arms up. Henry immediately flew from Regina's side and into Emma's arms, squeezing her waist as tight as he possibly could, and she hugged him back.

"I'm gonna miss you Emma." She tried her hardest to keep her smile on as she placed her hand on her son's shoulders and squatted down to her his level and looked him in the eyes.

"Take of her for me, alright?" She briefly lifted her eyes to Regina who was still standing in front of the landing, her arms now hugged across her body. He grinned up at her in that way that only an eleven year old could and nodded eagerly. Emma grinned and tousled Henry's hair as she stood up and gave him one last hug. Henry finally let Emma go when Regina cleared her throat softly and placed her hand on her son's shoulder as she took a few steps forward.

"Henry, dear? Could you give us a minute please?" He opened his mouth to protest that he wanted to wave Emma off, but Regina gave him a look that said 'that wasn't really me asking' and he nodded, getting over it quickly.

"Yeah." He pushed between his two mothers and pounded up the stairs as if he was trying to break every single one. "See ya later Emma!" He called as he reached the top landing and quickly disappeared behind a closed bedroom door moments later.

"Well he certainly won't miss me..." Emma laughed as she looked up the stairs after him and Regina rolled her eyes.

"Please. Tonight he'll be bothering me about when you're coming back; you're the only one who'll buy him ice cream." Both women laughed this time.

"Are you sure you have everything?" Emma rolled her eyes.

"Yes."

"Toothbrush?"

"Yes."

"Deodorant?"

"Yes..."

"Clean clothes?"

"Yes."

"Hair brush?"

"Regina."

"I just want to make sure you don't forget anything!"

"We're all acting like I'm leaving for a year. I'll only be gone one night, two at the most."

"There's nothing wrong with making sure you're prepared." Regina pursed her lips slightly.

"I'm going to be in a city. There's a drug store on every corner; I'll be able to get another deodorant if I don't have any." Emma gave Regina as serious of a look as she could, but she found herself grinning again as Regina glared at her halfheartedly.

"Be careful, alright?" Even though Regina's tone had fallen quite a ways from teasing, Emma had to suppress a laugh.

"I will." Emma tried to take Regina as seriously as she could, but a smile still crept across her face and Regina looked outraged.

"I'm serious! Don't do anything stupid!"

"You sound like my mother..." Emma wondered if Regina knew how to make any other facial expression other than glaring. "I'm serious. I'm a grown woman, and I've lived on my own for years. I'm going to be fine." Regina bit her lip, knowing that Emma was right.

"This is the longest you've been away since you ended up in the Enchanted Forest, excuse me for having separation anxiety." Regina put her hand on her hip, but it dropped as quickly as it was put there. "Promise you'll call me when you get there?"

"Of course." Regina nodded as Emma shrugged into her leather jacket then grabbed her bag off the floor, ungracefully hoisting it over her shoulder with a 'humpf'. Emma was just about out the door when she felt Regina grab her arm and pull her back into the house. Regina then tilted her head to the right, pressing their lips together and tangling her fingers into Emma's long, blonde tresses. They ignored the sound of a duffel bag dropping to the floor with a loud thud as Emma let out a soft hum of approval and her hands slid from Regina's arms to her hips, resting just above her hip bone, pulling her closer. When they broke apart for air, both women were smiling. Emma cupped Regina's face with her hands, their foreheads pressed together. Regina could feel the warm puffs of Emma catching her breath against her chin "Well, that's definitely a good reason to hurry back..." Regina let out a breathy laugh as Emma placed her hand under her chin, using a strong thumb to try and wipe away some of the bright red lipstick that was now smeared across her face. Emma gave up quickly, knowing Regina would have to fix it herself and slowly, regretfully pulled away from Regina, who started fixing her white, button down shirt, which had come un tucked from her black dress pants.

Emma smiled at Regina as she grabbed her duffel and headed out the door. She threw the beaten up bag into the back seat of her bug amongst a jumble of assorted trash, magazines, and a couple t shirts that had seen much better days before slamming the door shut and getting into the driver's seat. It took two tries to get the little yellow car's engine to turn over and Emma couldn't help but wonder if it would be time to trade it in once she got back home, if it even got her back home. Emma looked out the passenger side window as she rolled it down to find Regina, who was standing on the front porch, absentmindedly twisting her ring on her finger. Emma smiled and waved back before putting the car in reverse and pulling out of the driveway. She stopped for a second, catching Henry hanging out of his bedroom window, walkie talkie in hand. She grinned and grabbed hers from the passenger seat and pressed the button.

"Hey kid, don't so anything stupid, alright?"

"You got it Emma."

"And go talk to your mom every once in a while; it won't kill you I promise." Emma laughed as she heard a crackly groan once she let the speak button go.

"Fine." Emma dropped her walkie talking back onto the seat and waved one more time before pulling away from the curb. Regina stood outside and waved until she couldn't see the car anymore before she went back inside. Henry had come back downstairs and was sitting on the floor in the living room playing a video game. He paused it and twisted around to look at Regina who had sat down on the couch behind him to watch.

"She's gone?"

"Yes, she is." Regina looked up at the paused screen and frowned. "Don't leave the screen like that, you'll ruin the TV." Henry rolled his eyes and instead of turning the screen off, went back to playing. They sat for a while, Regina occasionally asking a question or commenting on how he could be outside, but they both knew that wasn't going to happen.

Regina had just started to doze off to the Super Mario Bros. theme song playing in the background when the phone rang. Henry jumped up and answered it

"Hello? Hey Joe, what's up?" Henry looked at his mother and treid to mouth something to her while his friend was still talking, but Regina couldn't understand him. He rolled his eyes and held up a finger for her to wait a second. She nodded and waited for him to cover up the mouthpiece, even though she found the gesture a little rude. "One second Joe." Henry placed his thumb over the microphone and pulled the phone away from his ear. "Can I go over to Joe's house?"

"Is his mother okay with it?"

"Yeah, she is."

"Yes, you can go." Henry smiled.

"Thanks Mom." He put the phone back to his ear. "Yeah I can come over. The usual? Kay, Bye." They hung up and Henry immediately started assembling a backpack filled with video games, his laptop, his phone, a few flash drives that Regina never understood what he needed them for, and of course, his storybook. He grabbed his helmet and tucked it under his arm.

"Bye Mom." Regina smiled and folded her arms.

"You know you have to be home by dinner?"

"Yes, mother." The teenaged tone of voice was evident as Henry walked out the door.

"Alright. Goodbye." The door slammed shut and Regina almost pulled the door back open to scold Him, but she stopped herself and instead walked over to the big window in the sitting room to watch as as Henry pulled his bike out of the back of the garage with only minor difficulties. It was the first time he was using it all year, and Regina couldn't help but laugh as he checked the tires, groaned, then dropped all his things on the ground and stormed back into the garages to look for the bike pump that Regina didn't even know the location of. Several minutes later he came back out, a plastic balloon pump in hand. Surprisingly, it worked well enough and Henry had his tries re inflated in under a minute. He threw the pump back into the garage, hopped back on his bike, and rode away down the street. Regina sighed and got up off the couch and went into the kitchen, made herself a cup of coffee and sat down on a bar stool at her kitchen counter, wrapping both hands around her mug and taking a sip from it. Regina was alone for the first time in a long time, and she hated it.

Emma arrived at her old apartment in Boston and practically jumped out of the car to crack her back and stretch. Home sweet home… She thought to herself as she grabbed her duffel out of the back seat and headed upstairs. Half surprised the lock was still there, Emma unlocked the door and sighed; the place was just as she had left it: a mess. Then the smell hit her. Emma retched as she threw her bag down and went to the kitchen and opened her fridge where she was greeted by a green bottle of milk, a carton of yellow eggs, and three bricks of moldy cheese. Throwing them into the garbage can, she proceeded to take the whole thing out and throw it in the dumpster, garbage can included.

Once Emma got back upstairs the smell was considerably better, so she headed into her bedroom to grab a couple things, like her hairbrush, the rest of her clothes; which mainly consisted of skinny jeans, camisoles, and black bras, three other pairs of boots and one pair of sneakers, her baby blanket, and a hidden stash of cash, which in total was probably about $500. She carried them back to the living room and threw them into her bag and zipped it back up. Well that was easy… Emma thought to herself as she looked out the window and saw that the sun was starting to think about setting. Ugh… Guess I can't head back now… Emma couldn't help but feel a little happy at the fact that it was too late to start heading home; she was tried and didn't know if she would even be able to make it back to Storybrooke without a nap thrown into the trip somewhere. She instead decided to grab some food at a bar she remembered a couple blocks over. She decided to walk, not wanting to deal with 20 minutes of traffic when she could get there in 10. As she went down the side walk, she couldn't help but get nostalgic. She had always loved cities, and Boston would have a special place in her heart as her first.

Emma got inside the dark bar and grabbed a stool at the counter. It only took a minute for someone to come over and take her order for some buffalo chicken wings, a salad, and a Bud Light. They walked away and Emma sighed, deciding to watch the baseball game up on one of the three screens posted around the place that were all playing different sports, but soon got bored of it, never having cared much. She looked around, seeing if there was anyone interesting enough to strike up a conversation with. She soon realized that everyone in the place was either a drunk, or with 10 or 15 pals watching the game. The bartender slid her beer over to her and she nodded in his direction in thanks. She sipped it and set it back down on the table, twisting it in its ring of condensation on the wood. She bit her lip as she thought of Regina and Henry sitting at home. Henry would have loved to watch the games on such big TVs and Regina would have loved it if Emma had made her drink a beer. She sighed sadly but soon perked up and tucked some of her long blonde hair behind her ear as a waitress came over with her food.

"Thanks." she said, but the woman was already gone. She sighed and dug in, reveling in the burn of buffalo sauce in the back of her throat.

Emma got back to her apartment around 10. She would have stayed out later, but she didn't feel like reconnecting with old friends, and she didn't think those friends would be too fond of her for just leaving like she had without a word. Her tall, brown, boots were ditched at the door and her red leather jacket was thrown over the couch as she headed down the hall and fell into bed. A part of her missed this life: alone, no one to worry about or to worry about her, doing whatever, whenever; but she missed Regina and Henry and her parents, and well, really everyone so much more. She would be able to stay here for about 3 days before she couldn't stand it anymore. Emma Swan had a family. That was still a foreign thought to her. She had lived her whole life alone, but now she had a son, parents, and the best wife anyone could ask for. The past tear of her life had been more than an orphan could have ever asked for. Emma felt her eyelids getting heavy from all the driving she had done and soon fell into the kind of sleep she used to before moving to Storybrooke; light enough not have any dreams, but deep enough to get some rest.

The next morning, Emma woke up at 10:30 am and actually had to ask herself if her phone was right. It was and she almost called Regina just to brag about ho early she's gotten up on a Saturday. Emma froze.

"Shit… I never called Regina..." Emma ran a hand through her tangled hair and quickly sent Regina a text.

Sorry I never called you last night kinda got in and fell asleep Emma groaned at her own stupidity.

"Regina's gonna kill me..." She muttered as she got up and went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She was still in the bathroom when she heard her phone vibrate across the hall and practically dove for it, her face still covered in minty green foam and the toothbrush still in her mouth.

Emma Swan I'm going to kill you. Emma laughed out loud and almost choked on her tooth brush.

No you won't you love me too much ;) Emma stuck her phone in her back pocket and headed back into the bathroom, spit out her toothpaste and rinsed. Walking back out into the living room, she threw her jacket and boots back on, not bothering to change her clothes even though she had spent all of the previous day in them and then slept in them, and did one more once over of the apartment, seeing if she missed anything, which she hadn't. Emma locked the door one last time and pounded down the steps to the front door, her duffel thrown over her shoulder. She threw her old, black bag into the back seat once more and headed down to the real estate agent who had bought the apartment from her to drop off the keys and some papers, but as she should have expected, there were more. Emma sat in the small office for almost two hours signing her name on this line and initialing on that one. Finally, at a quarter after 1:00, she headed off on her way. The drive home was slow, dreary, and uneventful. Emma stopped for a big lunch at a diner in a small town just off the highway mostly because she was hungry, but also because she didn't think it was fair that she had been forced to skip a meal. While she was eating, she saw that she had gotten several texts from Regina.

I'm serious, you're in big trouble.

I was worried sick.

Emma Swan you had better not be ignoring me. Emma smiled and texted back.

Regina while I may be sheriff in Storybrooke there's nothing I can do out here to keep myself from getting arrestedI was driving chill Emma could almost feel the anger seeping through the phone as it vibrated again with Regina's text back.

Do NOT tell me to "chill" ever again. Also, your sass is not appreciated. Emma rolled her eyes and shook her head smiling as she finished and paid.

It was getting dark as Emma finally pulled into the home stretch of her trip and she could slowly start to see the lights of Storybrooke lighting up for the evening. Emma smiled and sped up a little, wanting to get home to her family. The sun had just finished setting as Emma crossed the bright orange town line. She had just passed a diner nestled in the trees when she thought she saw another car leaving town on the other side of the road. Who the hell is leaving? No matter how strange it seemed to Emma that someone was trying to leave when they knew they couldn't comeback, she turned down her headlight from the high beams so as to not blind them. But as Emma got closer, the car stopped and darted across the road in front of her and Emma realized it wasn't a car, but a deer. She slammed on the brakes and lost control, skidding into the roadside ditch, landing sideways. Emma was thrown against the windshield, cracking it with her skull and hung limply from her seat belt, trying as best as she could to get herself free. The deer ran off, specks of blood covering its body. Emma felt herself losing consciousness and did the last thing she knew she could do. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed 9-1-1 with shaky hands. She had barely hit the call button when she blacked out and the phone hit the window with a crack.