It's empty.
Regina muses as she stepped inside the sheriff's station, her heels clacking on the floor and echoing in the space void of anyone except her. Her head snaps to the glass walls surrounding the sheriff's table expecting the blonde woman shuffling around her desk or stuffing the half eaten bear claw back in the paper bag and stuffing it inside her drawer. Her clumsiness creating noises that Regina longs to hear again. She curses as she tries to wipe away the coffee that spilled on her haste. The papers crumpling and fluttering on the floor, the cup holding her pencils and pens would tip and a few of them would fall on the floor earning more curses from the blonde. Then, Regina would finally enter the small space and smirk at the blonde who's glaring at her while wiping her tank top or a casual Emma with a very messy station. Either of the two, Regina would say the same lines over and over again until the blonde got used to it and just give her the roll of her eyes and a smile.
"I see that our sheriff is hard at work today too," Regina starts, she walks closer to the table, her hand tracing the edge until she reaches the other end, and instead of sitting on the chairs in front of it she would perch at the edge of the table while Emma would lean back on her chair, the old chair would creak at her weight but still support her.
"I'm doing work, Regina," Emma would roll her eyes and pull out a random paperwork from her stack, she would pull a pen from her pen cup but ends up glaring at it because she tipped it while hastily tidying and hiding food from her table.
"Do your work, Emma, or I'll find someone more reliable and capable for the job. And I'm not talking about your father," Regina finally stands up, a smirk on her face, and bends her knees to pick up the pencils and pens that fell on the floor and place it on Emma's desk.
"And please finish those before five this afternoon or there will be no apple pie or lasagna for you this Friday," then she would walk out of the room while giving an extra sway on her hips, teasing the blonde and hearing the loud 'C'mon, Regina!' from behind her is more worth it than sitting in her office talking to another power crazed royal demanding to get what they wanted.
Regina blinked and the memory slowly faded before her eyes, the creaking chair stood still behind the sheriff's table, papers neatly stacked on one corner and her pen cup in place complete with her colorful pens and shortened pencil. There's no lingering smell of coffee or Emma's usual sweet pastry crumbs on the desk, the white sugar still on the edges of the blonde's lips and Regina would laugh at her before wiping it off the woman's face with her thumb. A smile would appear on the blonde's face as a thank you and they would talk for a few minutes before Regina is called back to the office.
Her heart constricted as she touched the edge of the table and trailed her fingers on the wood, feeling the familiar dents and cracks from years of use and a few from the sheriff's clumsiness. She sat at the edge, the teasing and the playfulness normally followed her actions, a routine that she never tried to break, but instead of feeling those she only felt empty and alone. Her eyes stared at the chair still behind the table, no creaking or rolling around with the blonde sheriff too lazy to stand up and get a folder from a lower cabinet at the side.
It's too empty.
Even with David manning the station since her daughter disappeared and Ruby volunteering to help him during her day off at the diner, the station remained silent and dull for her. David never used Emma's table or even borrowed the pens on the cup, he never used Emma's computer to search for things in the internet. David never entered Emma's glass office. He would stop by the door, staring at the items inside like a little kid staring at a window display, never touching it even if he wanted to, he couldn't.
Regina felt something wet crawl down her cheek and she lifted her hand to touch it. Tears. She felt another one on her other cheek, she never bothered wiping them though. She never let herself cry since Emma disappeared, she needed to be tough, the person Henry needed her to be. The person Snow, and even Charming, needed her to be. The only person who knew Emma like they did, more than they did. She tried summoning the same strength she'd been showing from the following weeks, the nights when she only wanted to drink and drink until she's completely drunk and shouting Emma's name in her study only to be met by silence never happened, instead she would sit on her chair and read more magic books, rifling through them like a student cramming for an exam. She would read, read, and read until it's morning and Henry's knocking on her door telling her that breakfast is ready and that she needed to sleep. The strength that prevented her from returning to her past self and just shut people out to prevent from hurting herself further. The strength that held her act together and stopping herself from sobbing louder that Mary Margaret during midnight and calling the blonde's phone just to hear her voice again.
The strength that seem to disappear in thin air as she sat there in the sheriff's office, staring at familiar chairs, table, and pens. A soft sob escaped her lips and her head slowly dropped to her chest, tears started coming down and she lets them. Her shoulders shook as more violent sobbing followed, her hands coming up to her face to cover herself. There's no one to see her but the memory of the blonde sitting on her chair and leaning back with a smile, staring at her, smiling at her, complaining at her. Memories that she would cherish until the end of time, until they see Emma again. Until she could see her again. Talk to her again.
She would let Emma take all the breaks she want, eat all the bear claws she could eat, drink all the coffee she could take, pass the paperwork as late as she can without removing the apple pie and lasagna in their Friday dinner menu with Henry. She would indulge the blonde and do whatever silly things Emma wanted her to do if ever she sees her again.
When she sees her again.
Because the station's only one of the places where Regina felt empty without her.