Dedicated to Meg

It was a cold, wet and windy Friday afternoon in Storybrooke. The winter weather had started to close in on the sleepy coastal town so people were generally staying wrapped up in their homes and not venturing out. As such it meant there had not been many call outs for Emma who was now sat at her desk in the Sheriffs office drumming her fingers on the desk, daydreaming about lunch. She has decided to surprise Regina by taking over takeout from Granny's as she knew the mayor had had a busy week but this afternoon she was relatively free.

Looking up at the clock on the wall and seeing it read 12:30 she stood and grabbed her dark brown leather jacket with white fur trim off the coat stand and put it on, zipping the front up to just below her bust. She made sure the phones had been diverted to her phone, locked the office and headed to the Diner with a spring in her step.

As Emma walked into the Diner the little bell above the door made its usual jingling sound alerting the people inside to a new arrival. Some of the customers gave her a small wave or a smile which Emma returned as she ran her hands through her golden hair in an attempt to tame it from the windswept mess it had become. She made her way over to the counter perching on one of the tall bar stools, just as Ruby walked over with a small wave.

"Hey Em, want your usual?" Ruby asked with a friendly smile as she reached into her apron for a pen and her pad.

"Yeah please Rubes and can I have Regina's as well, to go" she replied to her friend returning the friendly smile. Ruby nodded and went to hand in the slip of paper to the kitchen and tend to other people. Emma glanced at the clock and mentally worked out that by the time she had got the food and made her way over to the town hall she would be there at around 1pm.

As Emma sat there her thoughts returned to Regina. It was amazing how far the pair of them had come especially looking back to when Emma had first arrived in the then sleepy town. The pair had gotten off to a rather rocky start, neither trusting the other nor particularly liking the other. Obviously since then Emma and Regina had both had late night conversations about this time and now Emma knew this had just been Regina's fear that she would take Henry away and Emma's own fears that Henry was not in a good home with people who loved him. Now looking back she knew Regina had always loved their son and at points it had been the only thing keeping her grounded and together.

Ruby returned a few minutes later and placed two brown take out bags with Granny's logo printed on them onto the counter followed by two take out cups of coffee. Emma pulled a few bills from her jacket pocket and slid them towards her friend,

"Thanks Rubes, you're the best" she smiled again as she grabbed the food and exited the diner heading towards the town hall which was only a short walk away.

Emma walked up to Regina's office door and realised with a sigh she wouldn't be able to walk in and surprise her wife as she would have wanted as she didn't have a hand free to open the door. Instead she gently kicked the bottom of the door three times with the toe of her boot and waited for Regina to answer. She knew she wasn't in a meeting or on the phone thanks to the brunette's assistant who had informed her before leaving for her own lunch break

When Regina has swung the door open Emma couldn't help the big smile that spread over her face and Regina returned it immediately. Even though Emma had watched Regina get dressed that very morning before they had both headed out to work, it still took her breathe away. Today Regina had decided to wear a plum coloured knee length dress that showed off her gorgeous curves in all the right ways, with a thin black waist belt with a gold fastener on it. Emma couldn't help notice how Regina's eyes also skimmed over her own frame although she was only wearing her usual black skinny jeans, dark brown knee high boots and her jacket.

"Hey, I brought you lunch and a vanilla coffee" Emma explained as she walked into the office once she had come back to her senses, she walked past Regina who closed the door behind them and deposited the items onto the black glass table by the fire which was roaring brightly. She picked up Regina's coffee and walked back over to her.

She lent forward and placed a loving kiss onto Regina's dusky rose painted lips. One of Regina's hands founds its way up and round the back of Emma's neck pulling the blonde towards her more to deepen the kiss. Emma smiled against her wife's now kiss swollen lips before pulling back and holding the cup of coffee out to her.

"And to what do I owe this honor?" replied Regina as took the coffee cup and took a small sip from it. It wasn't that she wasn't pleased to see Emma, she had been so busy this past week that she felt like the two of them has hardly spent any time together.

"Well I know how busy you have been this week and thought you could use a treat and secondly, I missed you" Emma said with a small shrug and looked away from Regina blushing. It was still hard, even now, to show Regina how much she meant to her and expressing her emotions had never been easy but she was getting better.

Regina placed a finger under Emma's chin forcing it up gently and making it so the blonde had to look her in the eye. Regina smiled and placed her own kiss onto Emma's lips as she whispered "I missed you too" back to her.

Emma smiled again before placing her hand around Regina's waist and guiding her over to the couch in front of the fire and shrugging off her jacket as it was lovely and warm in the office. Under her jacket she wore a simple black, long sleeved v-neck top which hugged her toned body. She sat down next to Regina and started to open the bags to distribute the food.

"Have you got to work this weekend?" Emma inquired as she bit into her grilled cheese sandwich followed by a sip of her own coffee.

"Luckily, no" replied Regina with a smile as she played with her kale salad with her fork, "I have to run some papers out to Mr Stevens at his farm after work as he left them after the meeting and I know he will need them but then we have to whole weekend, wait, have you got to work?" she looked at her wife with hopeful eyes. It had been so long since they had had a weekend to spend as a family.

Emma smiled and shook her head, not wanting to answer with a mouthful of grilled cheese, "No I managed to swap with David as I worked the last two weekends so he could spend some time at home," Emma gave a bigger smile "and I know Henry is home this weekend as well, no sleepover's planned, as of yet, so we can have a proper family weekend." She started to mentally plan out all the things they could do together.

Tomorrow they could go to the stables and Regina and Henry could go for a ride while Emma caught up on some reading. Afterwards if it wasn't too cold they could have a picnic by the pond in the park and then in the evening they could play a board game. Sunday they could have a movie marathon with blankets, quilts and big fluffy pillows all spread out in the lounge. To Emma it sounded like a perfect weekend.

However her daydreaming was interrupted when Regina elbowed her in the side, Emma's attention snapped back to her wife who was pointing at her jacket. Emma sighed as she fished her phone out and slide her finger across the screen to answer it.

"Sheriff Swan," the blonde said formally into the device as she took a large sip of her coffee as she began to listen to the caller on the other end. A frown began to form across her face and then she quickly stood up and grabbed her jacket as she struggled to put it on while juggling her phone. Regina quickly stood up too thinking that something had happened to Henry or there was another Big Bad spotted in town.

"Ok I will be there in about 10 minutes, I have to go and get the cruiser and I will be right over" she hung up the phone call and turned to face Regina with an apologetic look on her face "I'm sorry I have to cut lunch short." She said as she grabbed hold of Regina's hand in her own and gave a small squeeze, "apparently the wind is really picking up and a storm is heading in. A tree has fallen on an electric cable so I have to go and assess the damage and call the electric company." Regina nodded in understanding and squeezed Emma's hand back in comfort.

"Please be careful Emma and call me if you need me to do anything from here." Emma nodded and stepped a little closer to Regina as she placed a gentle but lingering kiss onto the brunette's lips.

"I will, but don't go out to Mr Stevens' farm, if the storm is on its way then it could be a lot worse by tonight, we can swing by there tomorrow, okay?" Regina gave a small sigh but nodded her head before returning Emma's kiss.

"I love you Emma" Regina said as she pulled back from Emma with a small smile playing across her lips. Emma gave Regina one last smile and headed for the office door

"I love you too babe, I will see you tonight when I get home" she called back over her shoulder with a final glance at the brunette.

Emma ran back the short distance to the Sheriff's office and to the cruiser which was parked out front. She jammed the keys into the lock and jumped inside quickly already soaked from the pouring rain which only seemed to be getting worse. She pulled out of her parking space and made out towards the woods on the west side of the town.

The wind was definitely picking up and leaves and other debris was blowing across the road and sticking to her windscreen. The rain was driving and she could hardly see where she was going even with the wipers working as fast as they would go.

It didn't take her long to locate the offending tree as it could be seen from the road side. She pulled to the side of the road and switched the engine off before reaching into the passenger foot well to grab the black Sheriff Windbreaker and shrugging into it. She jumped out the cruiser quickly pulling the hood up over her damp blonde hair and made the short walk to the tree.

She quickly assessed the scene and headed back to the cruiser so she could make the necessary phone calls to deal with it. She would need to call the electric company and make them aware of the tree, she would then need to call Mr Williams, the towns own forest ranger to see when he could come out and cut the tree down. She hadn't received any phone calls of people in town without electricity so she assumed the tree was just leaning on the line rather than having severed it. She looked at her wrist watch and sighed, it was going to be a long afternoon.

A few hours later, nearly 6 according to her phone, she had finally dealt with the tree and the electric company had been out to say the line was safe but they would come back out when the weather was a little better to do a full assessment. That was the good thing about being in a small contained town, things got done very quickly. She was currently sat in the cruiser waiting for it to warm up the cab as she was freezing down to the bone, completely soaked through, her hair was plastered to her head and water droplets were forming and dripping from the ends. It was safe to say she had had enough of the day and wanted nothing more than to go home and see Regina and Henry and then take a long hot shower.

Her phone rang again and she reached over to the passenger seat wondering who was calling her at this time, especially as by now David should have been in the office for his shift and taken the divert off, Regina and Henry at home and Mary Margaret should be in her apartment looking after Neal. She looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Henry who was trying to reach her. She quickly answered it with a smile thinking Regina had made him call her to check when she was home.

"Hey Henry, what's up?" she said cheerfully thinking it wouldn't be too long until she was back home and warm with her family.

"Umm are you with Mom?" he asked her carefully, Emma could tell that he was worried; Regina should have been home by about 5:15 at the latest.

"No, she should have been home ages ago, have you tried calling her?" Emma asked as panic started to rise in her chest, she knew what Henry was going to say, she knew in her gut.

"Yeah I tried her at the office and her phone but there was no answer, do you think she is ok? Can't… can't you do that, magic thing you do and go and find her?" Henry's voice hitched half way through the sentence, giving away just how worried he was for his brunette mother especially with how bad the weather was.

"Yeah Henry, don't worry I will find her, do me a favour though? Can you call your grandpa and just let him know. And stay at the house in case she comes home okay? Call me if she does." She replied calmly in return, not wanting to make Henry panic any more than he already was.

"Yeah I can do that, and when you find her Ma, let me know too." Henry replied.

"As soon as I can Henry, see you when we get home." Emma hung up her phone and threw it onto the passenger seat. She knew instantly that Regina had not gone home after work and she had probably gone out to the farm to drop off the paperwork even though Emma had asked her not too.

It was no secret in Storybrooke these days that Emma and Regina shared True Love with each other but only a few people knew about the connection between them. In the early stages of their relationship they had began to realise they could feel what the other was feeling physically (such as if one of them got hurt) or emotionally.

It had been difficult sharing the emotions of another person, to feel what another was feeling whether it was good or bad. Both Regina and Emma had guessed this connection was rooted in their magic as they had always been stronger together and once they had shared True Loves Kiss this had only grown.

However they soon realised that they had to do something about it as it had got them into some rather sticky situations and at times made their work and home lives difficult. So together they managed to teach themselves how to shut out the feelings and emotions of the other person if and when they wanted too.

But right now Emma was concerned and worried for Regina and she needed to know that she was safe. She let her head fall back against the head rest and allowed her thoughts to fill with only Regina and how she made Emma feel. The sound of her laughed, the way her whole face lit up when she smiled, the way she looked at Henry with such unconditional love and compassion, the way Regina's lips felt when they were joined to her own.

Emma's forehead started to crease in concentration because she couldn't feel anything coming from Regina. Emma opened her eyes and looked around the car for something to teleport, thinking that her magic was not working. She noticed her phone and held out her hand, palm up and magically transported the device.

This did nothing to ease the rising discomfort she was feeling in her chest. Emma didn't want to think the worst, but her mind kept running away and coming up with all sorts of scenarios and concentrating on keeping her breathing even was becoming more and more of a battle. With no other option she started the cruiser and headed back into Storybrooke to start retracing Regina's route from her office to the farm.

After Emma had left the office at lunch time, Regina finished off her salad and coffee and then went back to doing the paperwork she had started before the wonderful interruption. Winter time always brought a lot of issue for the town, from flooding, power cuts, damaged property and road repairs to name but a few. Before the curse had broken and before she had found Emma she never used to mind it, but now, knowing she had a family at home waiting for her all she wanted was to go home and be with them.

The rest of her day went pretty much the same way. She has a few phone calls from numerous people with various problems which she had dealt with and the rest of the time she had just done the paperwork. She had kept glancing out of the window at countless intervals to keep an eye on the weather, knowing that Emma was out in it, but as she hadn't heard from the Sheriff she assumed she was managing to deal with it.

At 5 o clock she shut down her computer and packed her belongings into her bag, she took her black coat off the coat stand and shrugged it on fastening it all the way up and tying the belt round her slim waist. She turned the lights to her office out and opened the door. Just as she was about to close it she remembered about Mr Steven's paperwork and walked back over to the desk to pick it up.

As Regina stepped out of the town hall she suddenly realised how bad the weather was. The wind was cold and strong and the rain was still pouring down and travelling almost horizontally. She pulled the collar of her coat together with one hand in an attempt to keep some of the heat in and raced over to her car. She fumbled to get her keys out of her pocket as quick as she could and pressed the unlock button on the key fob before opening the door and sliding into the drivers seat. Her deep drown hair was now hanging in rat tails even from the short run but she did the best she could in the rear view mirror to tame it.

She started her car and made her way carefully out of the parking lot and towards Mifflin Street. However as she got to the intersection to turn right for home she changed her mind and headed left out of the center of town and towards Mr Stevens farm. She knew Emma would not be pleased, but she would rather do it now than interrupt their first family weekend they had had in weeks.

The further from town she got the worse the roads became. Driving through the wooded area surrounding Storybrooke there were branches all over the road and leaves blowing around all over the place. The tops of the trees were bending violently in the wind and Regina soon started to regret coming out here but she was over half way now and so could see no point in turning around.

Regina had been driving carefully; she was going slower than normal and had been paying attention at every single moment. But all of a sudden the car started to spin out of control and the wet road made it impossible to regain any traction. The world outside of the car blurred into a grey brown smudge and Regina closed her eyes and prayed for it to stop.

All it took was 10 seconds. Not enough time for her to transport herself away. Not enough time to really register what was happening or to think of anything or anyone. The sound of metal bending and grinding filled the air, the sound of a tree straining against a massive weight being forced against it and then, silence.