Emma sat in Granny's eating a bear claw and being utterly depressed. It had been a week and she still couldn't believe that Killian had broken up with her.

If she had broken up with him, that she would have been able to handle because it would have been her choice at least. It's not as if she disagreed with him that their relationship was going no where – she had felt the same way for some time now – but that still didn't mean she appreciated being dumped.

"Want a refill?" Ruby asked holding up the coffee pot.

"Sure, why not."

Ruby filled her cup and then took a seat across the table from her best friend.

"Still sad."

"I don't even know if sad is the right word for it," she said. "More like in a state of complete disbelief that this is my life."

"I think we all feel that way at some point."

"Probably. It's just. I know I am only in my 30s but I sort of feel like I should have a more successful relationship by now. You know one that would lead somewhere."

"Look at this way, if you had grown up back home, as princess you probably would have been married by the time you were 18 or 19."

"Ugh."

"Yes. But at least your parents wouldn't have done one of those arranged marriages. They love each other and you are the product of true love so they want the same with you, which meant there was no way they would have just married you off."

"Yeah, this whole true love thing, I don't get it. The idea there is this one person in life you are supposed to be with. I mean what if you never actually meet that person? Does that mean you will never truly be happy?"

"I see we have reached the deeply spiritual phase of the break up," Ruby smiled. "Look I don't know if anyone really knows how it all works. I think people just meet and they fall in love. There is no reason or logic behind it. Outside of fairy dust I don't think there is ever away to know until it happens to you."

"Fairy dust?"

"Yes, fairies can use it to show a person their soul mate or so they say. I am not sure how it works, probably because I am not a fairy. I got to get back to work, are you sure you are ok?"

"I am fine, really. I just need a little more depressy time and then I will snap out of it."

"Good to hear."

Emma continued to sit there for a while before finally leaving but the conversation with Ruby stuck in her mind for days. Finally she went to the one person who she thought might be able to give her the answer she was looking for.

It took a little while to work up the confidence (and to find out where she lived) to approach Tink. The idea of this fairy dust was something she couldn't stop thinking about so there she was on Wednesday night knocking on her door.

"Emma?" Tink said when she answered the door, clearly unsure as to why the sheriff was at her door.

"Hey," Emma said. "I was wondering if we could talk for a moment."

"Sure," Tink said moving out of the way so Emma could come in.

Emma entered and Tink offered a seat on the couch while Tink sat in the chair. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Fairy dust."

"Fairy dust? Ok, what about it?"

"I was talking to Ruby the other day and she was saying that fairy dust could be used to help someone find their soul mate. Is that true?"

Tink considered the question and Emma for the moment. "It doesn't exactly help them find them, so much as reveal who the person is when you come in contact or see them. Why are you asking?"

Emma shrugged, "I was sort of wondering if you had any that you could use to help me figure out who I am supposed to be with."

"Oh," Tink said. "Do you mind if I ask why you want that?"

"I just feel like I should know if there is someone out there for me. I am tired of having these relationships that don't go anywhere. I am not saying I want to settle down and get married tomorrow or anything like that. But if I do have a soul mate I would like to know who it is so maybe we can at least start exploring a relationship. I don't think it's a bad thing that I want to know, that I want what my parents have and others have. I want to be happy."

Tink nodded. "I do have some fairy dust and I don't mind using it in that manner, but I feel I should explain to you how it works first."

"Ok."

"Again it doesn't help you find them in the sense that it guides you to them. You aren't going to magically know your soul mate is on the western end of town or anything like that so you can go seek them out. The way it works is I would sprinkle some in your eyes and then as you go about your life, if you see your soul mate it will be revealed to you. Some people have said that they see a light surrounding the person, or they actually see the person's heart beating. I think it's different for everyone. But you will know that is the person. Now the other thing is, it could be someone you know already."

"Really? How is that possible and I wouldn't already know that there is something there."

"That is why it gets sprinkled in your eyes, because sometimes you don't really see something that is right in front of you. It reveals what is in your heart, not what is in your mind, if that makes any sense."

"No, that makes sense, although I find it hard to believe I have actually met my soul mate already."

"Here is the final thing and where it might get a little tricky. While the fairy dust reveals who your soul mate is to you, it doesn't reveal it to them. In other words, you have to do the work at that point as the other person won't know."

"Well hopefully since we are soul mates there won't be a lot of work involved," Emma said. "Now does it like last until I find the person or do I need to come back for a refill?"

"If I do this, it's a one time thing. I don't have enough fairy dust to spare for another hit of it."

"So how long will it work for?"

"Two maybe three days at the most."

"That doesn't leave a lot of time, especially if my soul mate isn't here in Storybrooke, but outside of it."

"It's the best I can offer. Are you still interested?"

"Yes."

…..

Emma was beyond frustrated at this point. It was Friday evening and she had yet to find her soul mate. She had gone on patrols all around Storybrooke, gone to bars, gone to the library, gone everywhere she could think of in order to discover the person's identity.

She had struck out completely.

The fairy dust would wear off later tonight or tomorrow and Emma had come to the conclusion that her soul mate, if she had one, was not in Storybrooke.

She had gotten off of work and was headed to pick up Henry for the weekend. They were going to spend part of their day tomorrow with her parents – out in the woods, which wasn't really Emma's idea of fun. But Snow had wanted to teach Henry some of her tracking techniques and how to shoot a bow when Henry had expressed an interest in learning. They decided to make it a family outing.

She pulled into Regina's driveway and went to the door. She was about to ring the bell when Henry opened the door.

"Hi mom, I saw you pull up."

"Ready to go."

"Yeah," he said, and they turned and walked to the car.

"Henry!"

Emma turned as she heard Regina call Henry's name as Regina came closer handing Henry something, Emma couldn't take her eyes off of her. It was like there was some glowing gold aura around the other woman that was shining not brightly, but warmly.

"Mom?" Henry said tugging on her sleeve.

"Huh, what?" Emma said looking at him and then back to Regina.

"Are you feeling ok Miss Swan?" Regina asked.

"Um, yeah I feel fine, yeah fine."

Regina looked at Henry, "Have fun this weekend and try not to shoot anyone or Bambi."

"It was actually Bambi's mother that got shot," Henry said.

Regina just smiled at him and walked back into the house. Emma watched her the entire way as the gold aura never disappeared.

"Mom, are you sure you are ok?" Henry asked when she saw Emma staring at his other mother.

"Yeah kid I am ok," she said turning back to the car. She got in behind the wheel and waited for Henry to get in and buckle up.

The entire drive home she could only think of one thing – her soul mate was Regina.