Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon a Time.

"Hey Mom, Grandma were home!" Henry shouted, dropping his camping bags by the front door for Charming to climb over.

"Mom?" Henry shouted again walking further into the apartment to find her sitting and staring blankly at the wall.

"Hey Henry" Emma responded tiredly. "Hey Charming, Snow's lying down upstairs"

"Okay Thanks Emma, Henry I'll see you tomorrow?" Charming patted Henry on the shoulder as he made his way upstairs to say hi to his wife.

"What's wrong Mom" Henry questioned. Emma sighed wrapping her hands around the glass of water sitting on the table

"Nothing"

"Mom come on, I can tell your lying"

"We had a family dinner night" Emma spoke so quietly that Henry couldn't hear. Narrowing his eyes suspiciously he asked her again

"Fine! We had a family dinner night alright!"

"MOM! You promised after last time that you wouldn't have any more without me there" Looking back Emma wished she had kept her promise to Henry

"I know but they, your mom and Snow, both wanted to do something with me and since you and Charming were out of town, I thought…."

"You thought you would put them both in a room together and have a nice dinner?"

"Something like that" Emma muttered unable to believe how naïve her plan was.

"I just wanted them to survive one dinner Henry, and they almost did" Staring at his distraught mother Henry decided to cut her some slack

"What happened?" He questioned flopping himself down on the couch beside her.

"Everything was going fine, I mean it was tense but fine and I left the room and when I came back Snow was running out the door and Regina was standing there…."

"Well is she okay?"

"Yeah she's just upstairs resting, she didn't get much sleep last night"

"Not Grandma I meant mom. Is she okay after their fight" Henry quickly read the look of guilt that flashed across Emma's face

"You don't know do you?"

"She won't talk to me"

"You mean you haven't been home yet!"

"No. Snow wanted a mother daughter weekend and Regina won't answer my phone calls so I've been staying here" Henry stood up having heard enough.

"Come on Mom lets go home"

"Maybe I'll just stay here"

"You can't hide from her forever"

"Yeah says you, she's not mad at you"

"Mom I'm tired let's just go home"

"Fine"

"Fine"

….

Emma stood nervously outside the door. She had lived here for the past year, and yet she was nervous to go inside. Emma almost felt like she should knock.

"Seriously Mom" Henry brushed past her throwing open the door and announcing their presence to the entire house. So much for Emma's plan of stealthily sneaking inside.

"Hello Henry dear, welcome home. How was your camping trip?" Regina inquired hugging her son tightly.

"It was fun, grandpa told some epic horror stories"

"I'm glad you had a good time Henry but its late, why don't we call it a night and you can tell me about it tomorrow" Henry nodded his mom did look tired, and something was off with her. Henry ran up the stairs hoping to give his moms some privacy

"Hey" Emma said softly trying to capture Regina's gaze

"Hello Emma" Emma smiled If Regina wasn't calling her Miss Swan then it had to be a step in the right direction.

"It sounds like Henry had a good trip"

"Yes it does" Regina turned towards the stairs, she was exhausted

"Regina wait"

"What is it?" Emma paused taking in the dark circles under Regina's eyes.

"Never mind"

"The guest room is made up for you" Regina called as she marched up the stairs

I guess that answers that question Emma muttered walking towards the guest room knowing that she wasn't going to get any sleep for yet another night.

….

"I don't get it Belle!" Emma burst out angrily slamming her fork down on the counter.

"What don't you get Emma?"

"Regina! It's like I don't exist. She walks around the house treating Henry the same but she won't let me come near her. Won't talk to me. God forbid I step foot into our room!"

"Have you apologized?"

"For what?"

"For whatever it is that started all of this"

"But it wasn't my fault"

"Regina thinks it is" Belle pointed out.

"Look Em, I don't know what happened at this family dinner night but if Regina's really upset you need to go apologize and make things right. It's only going to be worse the longer you wait.

"Yeah I guess you're right, thanks Belle""

….

Emma walked into the kitchen placing the flowers she had bought like a peace offering on the island between them. Regina turned facing Emma and looked down at the flowers.

"What's this?"

"Regina I'm sorry" Regina narrowed her eyes, but she couldn't stop the small smile that formed when she glanced at the beautiful flowers

"For what"

"For making you host that stupid dinner. It was a bad idea I should have never put you and Snow together without Henry and I'm sorry"

"That's what you're apologizing for? For making me host the party. That's it?"

"What else is there?" Emma shouted, her emotions at being held at arm's length these last few days starting to get to her.

"Do you even know what happened Miss. Swan at the 'stupid dinner party'?"

Emma blamed her lack of sleep on her inability to filter the next words that came flying out of her mouth

"What always happens when you and my mother are in a room together! You say something snarky about the past she runs out and I'm left picking up the pieces!" A look of hurt and betrayal shown on Regina's face

"Is that what you think" Regina whispered

"No! Shit! Look Regina I'm sorry okay! I didn't mean to say that"

"You mean you didn't mean to say that out loud Miss Swan" Regina's mask was firmly in place, her voice giving nothing away. Regina turned her feet carrying her towards the front door and away from Emma.

"Hey don't run away from me!" Regina paused her hand on the door knob

"Why Miss Swan when you're so good at it"

"Regina!" Regina kept walking as Emma's voice slowly faded the farther away she got from the house. She wearily rubbed at her eyes. Nothing had changed, nothing! In all their time together Emma still thought she was the one to blame. The reason behind all of the fights, god forbid the precious Snow would be the instigator. Enough was enough. She needed to act, to end things, to do something. But every time she looked at Emma the words just wouldn't come out of her mouth. But for her own sanity, she needed to put herself first. Mind made up Regina walked back into town thoughts swirling of just how she was going to do it.

….

Emma stared blankly around the kitchen. When had Regina become so unreachable? They hadn't had a real talk for quite some time. Emma was oblivious, Regina and Snow had fought many times before, but it had never been this bad. She was tired of the stress that was eating away at her. She was the sheriff, investigating was what she was good at! And the first step was finding out just what exactly the fight was about.

….

"It can't be easy on her either, always having to balance between the two of you"

"But she doesn't, she just sides with them and apologizes to me later"

"It's Emma you know how scared she is of losing her parents, her issues with abandonment"

"Yes I'm aware. I'm the person who took them away from her, trust me I haven't forgotten"

"That's not where I was going with this. Regina, Emma loves her mother, but I also know that she loves you"

"I don't think that's enough anymore" Regina whispered brokenly

"What's not enough?"

"Love. It's not enough, not anymore. It's been a year I thought it would change but it hasn't. It's the same as it was twelve months ago"

"What did you think was going to change?"

"I thought that she would choose me. Just once, just one time I wanted to be the person she ran after first. I can't watch her run through another door chasing someone else."

"Do you expect her to choose between her girlfriend and her mother?"

"No I don't. I'm not the same person anymore, I'm not the evil Queen I once was."

"I know that" Ruby placed her hand on top of Regina's. She didn't know when she and the former Evil Queen had become friends. Maybe it was when Emma did something stupid and everyone took her side because the saviour couldn't be in the wrong. Maybe it was when Ruby realized she knew how it felt to be on the wrong side, to stare across and see how blinded the 'good guys' could be. Whenever it had happened, it was real. Not many knew about it, Snow would freak out if she saw them. But Ruby didn't care, Regina needed a friend and so did Ruby. Snow was always busy with her family and well not many people made time in their day for the increasingly lonely wolf. Which was why when Regina enforced a weekly lunch at her office to catch up Ruby couldn't say no. Because someone had finally made time for her. And so for the past six months every Tuesday Ruby would show up at Regina's office and they had lunch. It was like clockwork, and it gave Ruby something to look forward too.

"But I don't think she does"

"Emma?"

"The whole family, they watch me waiting for me to mess up to prove to them that they had been right this whole time; that the evil queen was just waiting for the right moment."

"That's insane"

"It's what they do. Well Henry doesn't, not anymore"

"I'm sorry Regina" Regina nodded

"Ruby I think…. I think I need to end things with Emma"

"Is that what you want?"

"It's something I need to do. I just want to be happy"

"Emma doesn't make you happy?"

"She does but I need someone who chases after me. I'm just tired of feeling so lonely"

"Hey you've got me"

"Of course I do dear, shall we go howl at the moon together" Ruby smiled

"Ah there she is, the Regina I know" Regina begrudgingly smiled at the silly wolf sitting on the other side of her desk. Regina did enjoy their lunches together.

"What are you going to tell Emma?"

"The truth"

"If you need me or someone to talk to after or before, just call me okay? Send up a wolf signal of something"

"Do you have a specific whistle you answer to Miss Lucas" Ruby laughed smiling

"You know Regina I do enjoy our lunches together"

"As do I dear, just don't start humping my leg" Ruby shook her head smiling, glad she could provide Regina with a little bit of a reprieve from her personal problems. Ruby stood to go, knowing that they both should get back to work. Before she could leave a voice stopped her

"Ruby thank you for listening to me and for being my friend" Ruby turned and hugged the mayor before she had a chance to react. It was the small moments when just for a second Regina would drop her walls and Ruby understood why Emma had fallen in love with her.

"Thank you for being my friend Regina" Regina smiled at Ruby

"Now run along dear I have important paper work to finish"

"Of course don't let me distract you" Ruby left the room, wanting not for the first time after one of their lunches to find Emma and hit her. Did she not see the damage she caused? Did she not understand that people had limits and Emma had been pushing Regina to the very edge of hers since they first started dating. Walking out onto the street Ruby glanced up noticing Charming and Snow a few blocks away. Ruby swiftly turned to take a different route home, she was in no mood to hear Snow bitch about Regina.

….

Emma crept in the door, it was late and she knew no one would be up. She hadn't seen Regina all day. She had been gone by the time Emma got up, and Emma would have sought her out at lunch but Regina had a meeting every Tuesday at lunch. Emma slowly crept up the stairs, tentatively opening the door to peer into the darkened room.

"Go away Miss Swan" Regina stated refusing to roll over but automatically knowing who stood at her doorway. Emma padded softly across the room to stand by the bed facing Regina's back.

"Regina I'm sorry okay. I promise no more dinners for a while" Emma gently pulled back the covers, creeping underneath them and slowly wrapping her arm tentatively around the former queen. Tensing to see if she would be pushed off. When Regina did nothing Emma pulled herself closer snuggling into her.

Regina sighed, unable to stop herself from falling into the warm, comforting embrace that Emma offered. She didn't forgive her, couldn't forgive her, but in this moment she was content to fall asleep in the arms of someone who loved her.

"Night Regina" Emma muttered sleepily, finally able to sleep her arms wrapped around the woman she loved.

"Goodnight Emma" Regina whispered into the night, her words circling around the room. Her last thought before sleep overtook her was if this was the last night they would fall asleep in each other's arms.

….