A/AN: I don't own any of the characters of Once Upon a Time (unfortunately). This is my first fanfic so please review!

"Emma, I love you, do you know that?" he says. We are walking through the forest, as he often like to. He just seemed to have such a connection to nature, almost as though he had lived in a forest before himself.

"Yes," I reply. "I do."

"I will never let go of you. I promise."

"Forever?"

"Forever." As the word slips from his lips, a portal forms under my feet. I grab him, gripping him for dear life. Falling through that portal would mean pain, hardship, and most of all, heartbreak.

"Please, please hold on to me." I plead. He holds me for as long as he can.

"Emma, Emma I'm sorry. But I can't hold on anymore!"

"No, please! You promised!"

"I know I promised but I'm too much of a coward! I love you Emma."

And with that, Neal lets go of my hand.

I woke with a start, gasping for breath. There I go again, dreaming about Neal. He's gone, I told myself repeatedly. Why couldn't I just accept that. I hadn't dreamt of Neal since I had gotten out of jail seven years ago. I thought I had let him go.

As I did every morning, I went to Granny's so Henry and I could get some breakfast before he ran off to school.. I was glad that I had told Henry about his father, about how he had used me. Then, at least, I could be open to him about this dream. It was so much better than the alternative: lying to Henry. If I did that, I'd be just as bad as Regina. The lying to Henry had to stop at some point.

"Hey, kiddo," I greeted Henry as he walked in. "How're things?"

"They're good, but you look like your night could've gone a lot better. What happened?"

I sigh. The kid's observant, I'll give him that. "Nightmares. It's a recurring nightmare. I thought I had outgrew it, but I guess not."

"What was it about?"

"It… It was about your father. I haven't dreamt about him since I got out of jail. Why would I start dreaming about him again?"

"Maybe it's because you still love him. I mean, you spent all of your energy on finding you parents. Now that you found them, maybe now your heart is looking to find its one true love."

"Henry, I don't think what your father and I had was true love. I told you this before."

"Just because it wasn't easy doesn't mean it wasn't meant to be. Who knows, maybe he'll come around."

"If that happens the only thing that will come from that is my fist in his face," I laugh. Henry laughs with me, but I can tell that something's bothering him. Before I can ask him about it, he leaves for school.

As I'm walking out of Granny's, I run into one of the last people I ever want to see: Regina.

"Good morning, Emma. I was just wondering if Henry was around."

"Sorry, Regina but he just left for school." Here it comes, I thought. The rude retort that was sure to follow.

"Oh, I'll just talk to him later then." She sighed and began to walk out the door. What was going on with her? This was so out of character for her.

"Regina, wait!" I reached out to stop her from leaving. "Is- Is everything okay?"

"Now why would something be wrong?" she barked. Now there was the Regina I knew.

Before I could answer her with something along the lines of "Okay well sorry for caring," she began crying. I didn't know what to do, so I did the first thing that came to my mind.

"Regina, I was going to make some hot chocolate at home. Would you like to join me? We can talk. If you want."

"Yes," she sobbed. "I would love that."

The ride back to mine and my parents' place was, in a word, awkward. She didn't stop crying, and neither of us said anything. When we finally got there, I noticed that Mary Margaret was home.

She must've noticed that Regina was crying because as soon as we walked in, she turned to me and said, "Hey, I was just gonna go out. If Charming comes home, tell him to find me."

"Will do." I gave her a sincere look of gratitude as she left the apartment.

"So, Regina, I'm gonna start the hot chocolate. Whenever you feel like talking, you can go ahead. I'm listening." It was silent for a very long time.

"Do you ever feel like you'll never find true love?" she finally asked.

"Well, I don't know, I think there is someone out there for me, somewhere." I began thinking about Neal again. Stop it! I told myself.

"I missed my chance you know," Regina told me.

"Missed your chance at what? True love?"

"True love. Happiness. Everything." She started sobbing again.

"Regina, what's this really about? What's with all this talk about true love?"

"I slept with a pirate!" she confessed. The sobbing began again, heavier this time.

"Woah woah wait. Slow down. You know a pirate?"

"Says the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming."

"Good point. So why does it matter if you slept with a pirate?" I still didn't see why this mattered.

"I thought what this pirate and I had... I thought it was true love. I thought... I thought that he'd stay." Now this I understood.

"So he left you?" The question was met with more sobs, which I took as a yes. "You know, I may be just the person to talk to."

"Henry's father. He left you." It wasn't a question.

"Yes. So I know all about this."

"No you don't understand. I had my chance at true love, but I walked away from it."

"What do you mean you walked away? Are you talking about Daniel?"

"No!" She screamed, astonished that I would make that assumption. "This was someone else."

"Who was it? Is he in Storybrooke?" The pained expression on her face seemed to answer my question. "Regina, I'm so sorry."

"If you think he's dead, you're wrong. At least I hope..." Sobs again.

None of this was making any sense. "Wait, Regina, what- or who, rather- are you talking about? Who is this mystery guy?"

"That's the problem. I don't know his name. I don't know where he is. I don't know anything about him."

"So let me get this straight. You know who your true love is but you don't know anything about him?"

"It's a... Long story."

"Well I had plenty of time. I'll tell Mary Margaret to pick up Henry from school." I texted Mary Margaret:

Me: Hey. Pick up Henry for me. Take him to Granny's for a while. Or the park or something.

MM: Okay. Is everything okay with Regina?

Me: I'm about to find out.

"So what happened? And start from the beginning. I'm listening."

A/AN: Well there you go! My first fanfic! Let me know what you think of it. The story will actually go somewhere I promise lol. I hope you enjoyed it and remember to leave a review :)