"Mother, please. It's not like we are without money." Regina stood in her parents livingroom, pleading her case.

"Regina, dear, it is not our responsibility. We all knew this day would arrive. They simply should have prepared better." Cora continued to refuse.

"You know very well that it is not that simple. Emma and David and have been doing everything thing they can. Ingrid meant everything to them. She saved them from a horrible childhood and showed them that they mattered. Some of the happiest moments of their lives were in that parlor. Just as some of my happiest moments were in this house and I'll be damned if if you think I would sell it after you two are gone. Mother, you have to understand." Regina spoke passionately.

"Language, Regina." Her mother replied. "And I do understand, dear. However, we have our own family to think about. We are the ones working to pay for your education… And if this meant so much to Miss Swan, where is she now? Why is she not here taking care of her responsibilities?" Cora questioned.

Regina sighed and looked to the ground. It was true the Emma had been MIA for the last two weeks. Regina hadn't heard anything from the blonde since that night. She knew she need some space, so whenever her calls went unanswered she would leave a simple message. She just wanted to know her best friend was okay. She had spoken to David, but even he didn't know where Emma had disappeared to.

"She just needs some time." Regina spoke quietly. "Daddy… for the past year she has been working two jobs while attending classes, just so she help her family. We can't let it all be for nothing. I spoke to David and even with the insurance, they won't have enough to save the shop. If you won't or can't help, then let me. Take the money out of my trust fund. Please." She didn't want to give up. Henry looked into his baby girl pleading brown eyes and sighed.

"Henry…" Cora began, knowing her husband was about to give in. She was silenced when the man raised hand, requesting for her to let him speak.

"The ice cream parlor has been apart of this town for 20 years. It would be a shame to see it go." He looked to his youngest daughter. "Save your trust fund, sweetheart. I'll pay enough to cover the shops expenses for 2 years. That should be plenty of time for them to get back on their feet." Regina squealed and hugged her father.

"Thank you, Daddy!" She then turned to kiss her mother's cheek before running off to tell David. This was the first and only time she was glad to be dealing with the brother. She knew Emma would be way too proud to accept their help.

Somewhere else

Emma sat in a bar in Tallahassee, FL. That's where her spur of the moment road trip had lead her. She had spent a week on the road, sleeping in the back of her bug, that she found at some used car lot for $500 in some random city. When she bought her bus ticket she didn't care where she was going. She took the last of her school funds from her account and bought a one-way ticket to nowhere. She knew she was fucking up, but she couldn't bring herself to care at the moment.

So there she sat, staring at a shot of Tequila. This would be her 4th shot. She needed to get out of her motel room, so she chose the tiny bar across the street. She honestly didn't expect the bartender to take her seriously when she asked for the first shot. The chick didn't even card her. So she took the shot, knowingly fucking up again. What the hell, right? At some point she had decided to drink to all of her failures.

She drank to Ingrid… she tried so hard to keep her foster mother's legacy going. Now they were going to lose the shop anyway. She drank to the beautiful brunette that she wasn't good enough for. She even drank to David. She had hauled ass out of town a few days after Ingrid passed, leaving him to deal with everything. She couldn't handle it. She felt like her entire world was falling apart beneath her feet. For her next shot, she would drink to her shitty childhood (before moving to Storybrooke, of course). She even had her 5th shot planned. Here's to dropping out of college. She called the bartender back over.

"You have heard the latest Justin Timberlake song, haven't you?" The woman smirked as she poured the 5th shot.

"Funny…" Emma stared at the small glass. "I'm not trying to drink my problems away. I'm just looking for a temporary escape." She replied, taking a deep breath. The escape was working. At the moment she wasn't feeling anything but numb.

"You sure you can handle another one. You're kickin 'em back pretty fast." The woman started wiping down the counter.

"I'm fine."

"Mm… and how do you plan on getting home, Miss Fine?"

"Do you honestly care?" Emma sassed back. She took the shot.

"Do I care if the pretty underage blonde drinking in my bar gets home safely? I'm not that irresponsible." She smirk again when Emma looked at her in shock.

"If you knew, then why let me drink?" She asked quietly. The bartender smiled.

"I'm a bit of a rule breaker… and you're cute." She stated easily. "Now… how are you getting home?"

"I'm staying in the motel across the street. I walked here." Emma shrugged.

"Okay…" she paused and waved over the other bartender to take her place. "I'll walk you back."

Emma didn't object. She had planned to order another round, but those 5 shots were kicking her ass. She allowed the cute brunette bartender to lead her out of the bar.

"So what's your name? I'd rather not keep calling you Miss Fine."

"Emma… I didn't pay for my drinks…" the blondes head was all over the place.

"I'm Lily and don't worry about it." Lily allowed Emma to use her for support the rest of the way to her room.

"Would you like to come in, Lily?" Emma asked, now leaning against the door for support.

"One question… are you at least 18?" The brunette inquired.

"19" Emma tried to flirt through her haziness.

"In that case" Lily grabbed Emma's hand and pulled a pen from her back pocket. "Call me tomorrow… when you're sober." She gave another smirk and she jotted her number on Emma's hand.

"Right…" Emma breathed out. She thanked the other girl as she opened her motel room door.

"No problem." Lily smiled before turning to head back to work.

2 years later

"So… call me later?"

"Uh… yea. We'll see." Emma brushed the other blonde off easily.

"We'll see? Are you serious?" The woman huffed. Emma sighed.

"Look, this was fun, but I've got a lot of stuff going on and I probably won't even be here by the end of the week anyway. So yea… we'll see." Emma was starting to get annoyed.

She was hoping the morning after would be easier than this. Plenty of the women she came across left without question. If she stayed at their place then she could be out before they even woke. This is what her life had been like since that first time with Lily. She had become some kind of rolling stone and she still couldn't bring herself to care much.

She lost count of the number of women she had shared her bed with over the past two years. She could at least remember the last 4 and that was all this past month. She would love them and then leave them, never looking for anything permanent. Some of them were fine with it and then some…

"What the hell, Emma. So all that work you put in last night was just to get me in your bed? So what? All the compliments and sweet talk was nothing but a lie?" The girl questioned.

"I never lied about anything! You're a beautiful woman and you deserved all the respect I showed you last night, but I never once promised you anything!" Emma snapped back. "We meet in a club, flirted and then fucked. Then whole situation screams 'one night stand'! I'm sorry if you didn't realize that, but maybe you should wait a little longer before giving it up next time!" Emma finished.

She knew she was wrong way before the hand reached her cheek. The other blonde had slapped her hard before storming out of her room and her apartment. She knew she deserved it. She couldn't be mad at her. Hell she didn't even remember the chicks name. She sighed to herself and moved to her desk to log on to her laptop.

She had managed to fix some of the mess she had made when she left Storybrooke. She started taking her online classes again and she got back in touch with David and Ruby. They had told her about what Regina's family did for them. She was pissed in the beginning. She didn't like the idea of other people needing to fix her problems and coming from Regina only made her feel more like a charity case. Over time she had gotten passed it and was grateful to still have her foster mother's ice cream parlor.

She had been working with David and Ruby from a distance to keep things in the shop running. She knew she would have to return eventually, but she just wasn't ready. Everything about that sleepy little town reminded her of what she had lost. Who she had lost. So for now, she was content with bouncing around from city to city, picking up odd jobs and random chicks to keep her busy when she wasn't studying. She had been to various cities across the east coast and was currently holed up in New York. She was considering where she would run off to next, when a call come through on her skype.

"Hey girlie! You're looking… a bit red…" Ruby was planning to say "looking good", until she noticed the blonde's cheek.

"Yea…" Emma simply shrugged, not bothering to explain further.

"Still breaking hearts, I take it. You really need to start treating them better, Em." Ruby replied softly.

"No. I treat them fine. I just need to remember, that some women are just more sensitive than others." She corrected.

"Or… You can just come back to Storybrooke and I'll be your fuck buddy!" Ruby cheerfully suggests.

"Rubes…" Emma sighed.

"What? I think it's an awesome plan. You're hot, I'm hot, we both have needs, we're both in love with other people, and most importantly, you get to come home." Ruby explained.

"There's plenty wrong with that plan. For one, you're not even to women. Two, I'm not in love with her, and three, you could have him if you wanted." Emma supplied.

"Okay, my turn. Firstly, you know how much I love to try new things and I've wondered what it's like to wear a strap-on. Sadly there aren't many guys willing…"

"Oh my god, Ruby!" Emma chuckled. Ruby smiled.

"Hey, they want us to be all willing to let them in back there. I think they should more open to it too!" Ruby laughed. "Secondly, you are a damn lie…" Emma rolled her eyes. "And third, I can't have him the way I want him. He's still in his player phase. I'm all about having fun, but I take relationships seriously." Ruby finished.

"I know. I also know that Graham will come around. Soon he'll realize that what he wanted was right there all along." Emma spoke sincerely.

"I hope so. Now back to the part about you being a big fat liar…" Ruby pushed.

"I don't wanna talk about it, okay? I'm not ready to come back. Especially not right now since…"

"She'll be home for the summer." Ruby finished for her.

"Yea. So, let's talk about the real reason you called, please." Emma requested.

"I just want to say one more thing and then I'll drop it." Emma sighed. Ruby continued "You really should call her. She's worried about you and I can only deflect so many of her questions. She's still your best friend and she just wants to know that you're okay. So think about it, please." Ruby asked.

"I'll think about it." Emma agreed.

"Okay, good. Now, did you get my email about the summer applications? Mayor Mills loves the summer job program idea and we've gotten over 20 applicants, but we can only hire six students…"

Emma and Ruby went on to discuss some of the applications and they were able to narrow the list down to ten. They would give David the honors of picking the lucky six. Emma had came up with the summer job program and she was very proud of it. It allowed a few promising students to gain extra credit towards their senior projects and would look good on the college applications. The city would fund half the cost and the shop would pay the rest, allowing the kids to also make money for the summer during the working experience, and the parlor gets extra help at half the cost during the busiest time of the year.

Now that that business was tended to, Emma was, once again, left with her thoughts. After her little conversation with Ruby, she found herself reconsidering her next move. She hadn't missed the fact that every time she moved, she found herself closer and closer to Maine. She just ignored it. Now though, she was purposely thinking of cities that will allow her to be closer to home without actually being there. Maybe baby steps would be good and Boston was looking like as good of a place as any to start. There was also one more thing she found herself considering….

Later that night

Regina entered her apartment, ready to call it an early night. Her internship combined with classes had definitely made her junior year more challenging. She and Belle had stuck together as roommates and decided to live off campus together, since they got along so well. Tonight, however, she was glad that her Australian roomie was working late.

She finished getting dressed for bed, grabbed a glass of wine and a book, and was ready to curl up in bed when her phone rang. She looked to her alarm clock and wondered who would be calling her after nine. God, did she hope it wasn't the firm she was working for. It wasn't, but she didn't recognize the number either. She was about to ignore the call when something told her to answer.

"Hello?"...

Oh, It's in my roots, in my veins

It's in my blood and I stain

every heart that I use to heal the pain

A/N Like what I did at the end, there? Bet you can't guess the next chapter =P

Random fact… I live in North Carolina, but went to high school in California. Out there we were required to complete a senior project in order to graduate. It involves community service, written and oral presentation, and things like that all relating to how our desired profession can help others or something like that. It's been 20 years since I did it. At the time I actually wanted to be a writer and for my project i made a children's book that combined fun and learning.

Also, my son (9) was recently diagnosed with High Functioning Autism. When he was 6 the doctors said it was just ADHD, but as he started school and had more interaction with people, I was sure it had to be more than that. So I had him re-evaluated and I was right. Its definitely been and continues to be a challenge and huge learning experience. So I'm thinking it might be cool to write a SQ fic where either Emma or Regina goes through this type of thing with Henry. Then the other can enter the picture and be surprising very good with Henry. Does that make sense? What do you guys think? I would have to do lots of research (which I need to do anyway, to help my son) and would like so use some of my own experiences throughout the story.

OK I'm done rambling! Hugs!