A/N So here's my first one shot. This one is kind of angsty... I guess I'm just in that sort of mood. Please review if you get a chance and feel free to leave me prompts :)

Chapter 1: Missing.

Regina awoke from her latest nightmare with a start, her whole body covered in a layer of sweat and her throat raw; she must have been screaming again.

She reached her out hand towards the body lying beside her but found the space empty. That would at least explain why Emma didn't wake her up when she started to cry out in her sleep. Maybe she went downstairs? Regina pushed back the quilt and got slowly to her feet, still feeling slightly shaken. She checked her clock before grabbing her robe from the back of the bedroom door. It was only 5am.

She began to make her way downstairs in search of the blonde when a sudden need to check on Henry overwhelmed her.

She silently opened his bedroom door and squinted into the darkness, waiting for her eyes to adjust slightly.

Panic immediately washed over her at the sight of his empty bed, clutching her heart in a vice-like grip. She forced herself to calm down, they were probably just downstairs watching TV. The dread she was feeling was just a residual thing from her nightmare.

She practically ran down the stairs and skidded into the clearly empty living room. She turned towards the kitchen but could see it was uninhabited.

"Henry?" she called into the emptiness, "Emma?"

She listened for any hint of movement but heard nothing except her own words echoed back at her. They weren't here.

She began pacing the floor as her mind raced through all the possibilities. What if someone had taken them? They could be danger. Her knees felt weak at the thought. This was her fault, maybe someone had found out about her and Emma's relationship, maybe this was part of some plan to get back at her.

She continued to pace the cold wooden floors. She needed to do something. She could create a tracking spell but that would take too long. If someone had broken into her home and…

She stopped suddenly. She'd just seen the front and back doors, neither showed any signs of a break in. Quickly, she checked all the windows in the house but they too were securely locked. That meant Emma had either let in the person who had taken her or… she'd left willingly.

Realisation washed over her, literally bringing her to her knees as she sunk to the floor. They hadn't been forcibly taken from her at all, they'd finally done what she'd been waiting for them to do for months. They'd left her.

She tried to pull herself together. She knew this day was coming so why did it hurt so much? She'd been waiting for the moment Emma would realise exactly who it was she claimed to be in love with, for the moment Emma would fall into old habits and run away. It was hardly surprising she'd take Henry too.

Tears were streaming down her cheeks so quickly she gave up trying to wipe them away. What was the point anyway? She had no one to be strong for now.

Part of her was ashamed at her own weakness, she was the Evil Queen! Evil Queens did not fall apart like this. She'd been alone all her life. She tried telling herself she was just reverting back to her normal state but that only made it worse. She didn't want to be alone anymore. Not after she'd finally had a taste of happiness.

The sobs wracking her body were so loud she didn't even notice the sound of the key in the door.

"Mom?"

She lifted her head slowly, half convinced she'd finally gone mad and started hearing things.

"Henry?" He was right there in front of her, looking absolutely terrified. Her eyes then moved up to find Emma standing in the doorway, wearing a matching expression.

"Gina? What's wrong?" the blonde asked as she placed a large paper bag on the floor and ran to wrap her arms around Regina, "Has something happened?"

Regina began to sob even louder at Emma's touch, the only thing real enough make her believe this wasn't some sort of hallucination.

"You were gone." She whispered, not trusting her voice.

"Oh God Regina! IS THAT ALL?! I thought someone had died or something!" She stood up from the floor and tried to pull Regina up after her. The brunette did nothing but stare at her, her eyes filled with an emotion Emma couldn't quite pinpoint.

"H…Henry dear, will you go upstairs for a minute. I need to talk to Emma alone."

Henry looked from one mother to the other, completely at a loss. He had no idea what was going on but decided it would be better to just leave them to it. He nodded once before running up the large staircase and into his room.

Regina rose regally to her feet, wiped at her tear-stained face and smoothed down her robe before turning on Emma. "Is that all? Is that all?! How dare you say something like that to me?"

Emma was getting emotional whiplash from all this drama, and she still had no idea exactly what was going on. "Calm down! I just meant that it looked like something really serious had happened when it was just you freaking out that Henry and I had gone to pick up some groceries. We were going to make you pancakes. What's with the overreaction?"

"Overreaction? I wake up in the early hours of the morning to find my family gone, no note, no nothing, and my panic about that is an overreaction?"

When Regina put it like that, Emma could see it would be pretty terrifying if the roles we reversed. Their lives weren't exactly hazard free, it was all too easy to assume the worst. "You thought something had happened to us?"

Regina faltered for just a second but Emma saw it. She'd become an expert at reading the Mayor's non-verbal signals pretty early in their relationship. She could tell it was something more than that. If she thought someone had hurt Henry, she'd get angry, she wouldn't sit on the floor and cry. Then it dawned on her. "You thought we left didn't you?"

Emma thought her heart would break in two as she watched Regina simply nod in confirmation. "I'm sorry Gina, I should have left a note, and I promise I will next time, I just figured you'd still be asleep when we got back. Please don't be mad at me." She held her arms out to the other woman, who fell straight into them.

Emma tucked the brunette's head under her chin before trying to reassure her once more. "I know you don't believe me but you aren't getting rid of me that easily. I'm not going anywhere until you physically kick me out. I have no intention of letting you go. Ever. I love you Regina."

Regina finally felt herself relax into Emma's arms. "Did I hear you say something about pancakes?"