Exactly a week had passed and Regina hadn't heard from Emma once; in the beginning she put it down to the job promotion keeping the blonde busy but as she week neared Sunday she was forced to remember the guy she had saved Emma from. The week had been long and tiresome for Regina herself with a big company merger being handed to her at the last minute when a fellow lawyer in the firm had quit her job unexpectedly, and on top of Emma being MIA she was downright exhausted.

When Sunday came around, Regina marched into the coffee shop and slammed her hands down on the counter to get the attention of the barista - Laney.

"What can I get for -" she began.

"Where the hell is Emma?" Regina interrupted.

"Look, we haven't seen her since last Sunday. She rang in and quit her job on Monday morning and we haven't heard from her since," Laney said. "She did tell me to pass you a message on though."

"Well?"

Laney searched through the pockets of her brown apron before pulling out a piece of paper, "She said to tell you that she is sorry and it isn't your fault. She also said that you shouldn't worry and that she has to do this so you don't get hurt."

Regina slid a business card over the counter, "If you see her or if she calls, ring this number okay, straight away."

Regina turned around and left the coffee shop as quickly as she had entered. Something niggled at the back of the brunettes mind as she walked back to her own apartment, she felt like she should know where Emma was.

Even though their friendship was in it's early months, Emma wasn't bothered about sharing information about her past. Regina knew that Emma was adopted when she was young, but she was sent back when the couple conceived their own child and ever since she had bounced around the foster care system until she turned 18. She knew Emma had been arrested multiple times as a teenager for petty theft and assault.

When she had reached her apartment the brunette pulled her laptop, paper, pen and phone out and laid them in front of her on the dining table. She began researching Boston and the last group home Emma was in before making a call to the local police station.

"Hello, NYPD how can I help?" the receptionist answered.

"I need to speak with Detective Harold," Regina said.

"What is it concerning?"

"Just put me through, idiot," she snapped. There was a beeping sound before another phone was answered.

"Detective Harold, what can I do for you," a woman said.

"Kelly, it's Regina. Remember that favor you owe me? I'm cashing it in."

"What can I do for you, Regina?" she asked.

"I need you to find out as much on Emma Swan for me as you can. She went missing a week ago, and I'm pretty sure her ex had something to do with it. She bounced around the Boston foster system most of her life, and she has a record so she should come up on your system."

"I'll do as much as I can for you, and I'll ask the force to keep an eye out for her."

Two days after her short conversation with Detective Harold, Regina was in her office completing her nightly paper work when her intercom buzzed. When she answered Kate told her that Kelly was there to see her.

"Can I get you a tea or coffee," Kate asked the women.

"I'll have a bottle of water please," Kelly said.

"I'm fine thank you," Regina said with a smile.

Kate left the room as the detective sat in the leather seat opposite Regina and put a file on the desk, "Here's your favor."

Regina reached for the file, but the older woman stopped her before she could touch it.

"Is she your friend?"

"Yes."

"It isn't pretty Regina, you might wanna think twice before reading it. I've seen some shit in my time, but she did a lot as a kid."

Kelly got up to leave and left Regina staring at the file. One half of her wanted to rip open the file so she could read everything and hopefully find where Emma was, but the other half of her wanted to put it straight through the paper shredder; this was breaching a certain line of friendship, right?

A week after her encounter with Laney, Regina was sitting on her couch at home with Lola snuggled next to her. She had a cup of coffee in one hand and paper work in the other. The words on the paper jumbled as she tried to read through it so she put the paper down and turned the TV on and settled for a movie she had seen too many times before.

A few minutes into the film Lola began to whine and Regina knew it was time she took her for a walk before it got dark. She pulled on knee high boots and her grey pea-coat before attaching a lead to the collar. They walked their usual route through the park and Regina let Lola run free on the grass for a while before the darkness surrounded New York. After a 40 minute walk they headed back to the apartment for dinner.

"Ms. Mills," Ronald, the head of security, said as she walked through the doors.

"Yes?"

"Someone was here looking for you, I told them you were out."

"Did they leave a message?"

"No, sorry."

"What did they look like?" she asked.

"He was tall, long brown hair. Looked as if he had been in a fight, not the sort we'd want near you, Ms. Mills."

Even though it had been over 2 weeks since she had encountered him, Regina knew exactly who Ronald was talking about; Emma's ex.

"Whether I am in or not, never send him upstairs. Okay?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Regina smiled at the man before heading to the elevator and going to her floor. A few moments later and she was walking into the warmth that was her empty home. She let Lola free and she headed straight to her usual spot on the sofa while Regina got dinner ready for them both. A little over 30 minutes and Regina was tucking into her lasagna for one on her sofa while Lola ate her dinner in the kitchen.

The brunette had gone to thinking about Emma's disappearance and how she knew that her ex had played a part in it. She tried not to think of the worst case scenario where the blonde ended up dead, but she couldn't stop herself. Regina was thankful to the knock on her door that bought her from the nightmare of the scenarios, and Lola followed in her footsteps as she went to answer the door.

The brunette looked through the peephole and didn't see anyone, so she cautiously opened the door and the sound of quick breathing and crying hit her ears. She looked down to the floor and there she was.

Emma Swan. Emma fucking Swan.

But she wasn't the same. Her usual sleek blonde hair was matted with the color faded. Her bright green eyes were now dark and showed nothing but fear and hatred. Her unblemished face now held cuts of various sizes and was covered in mud and blood. The woman she once knew was far gone, and in her place a fallen, crumpled woman sat in her hallway clutching her stomach.

"Emma?" Regina said quietly, she was unsure of what she was seeing was real.

"I need help, 'gina help me," she pleaded in between sobs.

Regina pulled Emma up to a standing position before she noticed the blood splattered across her shirt, the same shirt she had last seen the blonde in over two weeks ago. She lead the blonde into her apartment and sat her at the island in the kitchen whilst she fetched the First Aid kit from her bathroom. When she had returned Emma had stop her sobbing so she silently cleaned the cuts on her hands, arms and face before wiping away the excess blood, unsure of who it belonged to.

"Emma, what happened?" she asked after there had been silence between them for too long.

The blonde stared straight past her, her eyes hollow and distant. She shook her head in fear of collapsing if she spoke.

"Did that guy, your ex, do this to you?"

With the mention of Fin, Emma resumed her crying once again. She had never shown this much emotion in front of one person before and she hated it.

"I'm sorry," Emma said when her cries had calmed down once again. "Did he hurt you?"

"Hurt me? I'm a hard-ass remember."

"A hard-ass lawyer," Emma said with a small chuckle.

Regina wiped Emma's cheeks with a tissue before pulling her friend into a hug. "I was scared, you know. You kinda left me hanging."

"Did Laney pass the message on?" Emma said as she looked into dark brown eyes; eyes she didn't realize how much she had missed.

"A week too late, but yeah, I got it. Didn't stop me from worrying and trying to track your ass down."

A/N: The next update might be a while, I am visiting my dad so I want to spend as much time as I can with him because I am only here for a week. Hope you like it, until the next time :)