A/N: Wow, I am so sorry. It's been almost a year since I updated! I wish I had a good excuse but really I just kind of lost my way and lost my spark. But don't worry! I have mapped out what I am doing with the rest of this story and then I'll be working on finishing my others! Thank you so much to everyone who has stuck with me!

—

Finally, the day had come. Emma had barely been able to sleep the night before. She kept checking and then re-checking her bag to ensure she had packed all of her essentials. Emma didn't have much, and not everything would fit into the bag that she had purchased on the day that her and Regina had went to the store for supplies. She fit in a couple of outfits, her bathing suit, a spare towel that she stole from the Herch's linen closet, and then toiletries. She left the rest of the items that they had purchased with Regina to pack in a separate bag.

She woke up that morning feeling extra thankful that both Mr. and Mrs Herch both left for work before Emma was to be leaving for school. It made walking out the door that morning with the bulky over stuffed gym bag much easier.

The girls had planned to meet up at the car that still sat in the parking garage. They concluded that it would be easier that way so that they weren't lugging their bags all over Boston. Emma walked up to the multi-story parking garage and decided to wait out front for Regina because the blonde had been the only one to visit the car since she had parked it there. It was easier to wait for the other girl than it was to try to explain where she had parked.

Twenty minutes passed in which Emma continuously checked her text inbox and the time. They agreed to meet at 8:30. It was now nearing 9 and Emma was getting anxious. She fired off a few texts while she waited.

Hey.

No response.

I'm at the garage. You on your way?

Still nothing. She waited. Finally, she sent one last text.

Listen, if you didn't want to do this you should have just told me, Regina.

Emma waited 5 more minutes, mentally kicking herself in the ass. She knew she should never have told Regina of her plan to leave. She was better off on her own anyways. Tears began to spring to her eyes, hot and heavy, as she thought about how she was feeling abandoned yet again. She bent down to pick up the strap of her bag and threw it over her shoulder when she heard a familiar silky voice call out.

"Hey, think I wasn't coming?" Regina strutted up to the blonde, pulling her in for a hug which ended up becoming awkward because of the bags they both adorned.

"Dude, where have you been? It's after 9! We were supposed to be on the road over half an hour ago!" Emma scolded her, relief of not being left alone flooding through her body. Emma let out a sigh. She wasn't really that mad, they had agreed to take as long as they want to get down to Tallahassee. They were in no rush. Emma even had every stop mapped out in a notebook.

"Miss Swan, are you chastising me?" Regina chuckled, placing her hands on her hips.

"Maybe." Emma responded, a smile slowly creeping onto her lips.

"Well, I'm sorry." Regina answered sincerely. "My mother doesn't work so I had to run up to the roof to drop the bags off before she woke early this morning. Then I had to act all normal and leave when I normally do. Then climb up to the roof to get the bags and climb back down. So it took me a bit to get here." She finished and Emma immediately felt guilty for getting mad. "But look, I brought you some breakfast because I figured you wouldn't have eaten before you left!" Regina handed over the bearclaw, wrapped in a napkin and Emma's stomach growled right on cue.

"What can I say, the way to my heart is most definitely through my stomach!" Emma chuckled and took the sticky pastry. "Let's go, I want to hit the road!" She said excitedly, turning and leading the way to the elevators.

Both girls stepped off onto the fourth floor of the garage. Emma's heart immediately sunk as she looked around frantically. The bug was no where to be seen.

"Hey, are we on the right floor? I don't see the car." Regina stated, oblivious to the panic rising in her companion.

"No shit, Sherlock. What the fuck, I just checked on it yesterday" Emma spat, dropping the bag from her shoulder to the ground and crouched down, throwing her head into her hands as wet hot tears began streaking down her face. "It's not here." She whispered. "It's gone." Emma felt defeated. Everything was too good to be true, and she knew it. She felt Regina lower herself down next to her and snake her arm around the blonde's shaking shoulders.

"Hey, listen. It was a stolen car. The police were bound to be looking for it. We would have been sticking out like a sore thumb in that bright, rickety contraption anyways. It's lucky we weren't in it when they found it." Regina rubbed circles on Emma's back as she consoled the other girl. Emma sniffed, knowing Regina was right. It was stupid of her to steal a car, especially one that stuck out so much. She's lucky she didn't get caught.

"What are we going to do?" Emma asked, wiping the tears from her eyes and streaked cheeks.

"I have a car." Regina stated matter-of-factly.

"You what?" Emma stood up, staring down at the other girl until she rose to her feet as well.

"I told you when you stole the other one, I had a way for us to get a car legally." Regina shrugged. "My parents don't know about it. I bought it secretly. Outright. I don't owe anything so we have nothing to worry about. No one will be looking for it, and it's in my name."

"Where is it?" Emma asked, feeling better than before.

"I parked it down the street." Regina responded, picking up the two duffel bags she brought and turning towards the elevator. Emma turned and followed, stepping on when the doors opened.

"You know, I really loved that car." Emma said quietly. It was true, she did love that car for the short time she had it.

"Yeah and you were probably the only one, dear." Regina responded, causing both girls to erupt in laughter.

—

Fifteen minutes later the girls were pulling out onto the road, headed towards I-95. Emma was settled in the passenger seat, considering Regina made it perfectly clear that no one would be driving her car but herself. It was a Mercedes Benz. Not brand new, it was last years model. Still, it was impressive for an 18 year old to have bought outright from a dealer.

"So how did you get the money for a ride like this?" Emma asked between bites of her bearclaw. Crumbs fell down onto her shirt and she brushed them onto the floor, eliciting a glare from the other girl. Emma gave a goofy grin in response.

"I told you, I have money." Regina answered, pressing the power button on the radio and turning up the volume a bit. To anyone else, that would have signaled the end of the conversation, but Emma's curiosity wouldn't be sated that easily.

"Yeah but how? You're 18. You don't have a job." Emma pressed on, licking the sticky sweet remnants of the pastry from her fingers before turning to face the brunette more fully.

"Is this like 20 questions or something?" Regina asked, glancing at the blonde in the seat beside her. When Emma didn't let up Regina let out a long sigh. "My father is a lawyer. A very successful one at that. As was his father before him. When my grandfather died, daddy inherited his entire estate. He's built his own fortune on top of that. Mother doesn't have to work because there is no need."

"Why did you want to leave with me then? It seems like you had a pretty comfortable life there." Emma asked.

"Comfortable, yes. But happy?" Regina paused for some time, no doubt thinking of what to say next. "I will never live up to my mother's standards. She wants me to be this perfectly poised…queen-like being. She wants me to do dinner parties and galas. To mingle with the rich like us. That's not what I want. I don't care about who's rich and who's not. I don't want to dress to the nine's and dance with men who only want me for my money and my body." Regina finished, sounding exasperated. Emma didn't know how to respond so she didn't. She knew Regina wasn't waiting for one anyways. She felt like she was able to get a better glimpse of who the real Regina was with what she just said, and that was enough to calm her curiosity on the subject.

Regina pulled the car on to the Interstate and sped up to the speed of the traffic.

"Ok, boss lady, where are we headed?" Regina asked, the mood feeling much lighter then than it had following when Regina had last spoke. Emma opened her small notebook and flipped to the correct page.

"I want to get some distance between us and Boston. I doubt anyone will be looking for an 18 year old runaway foster kid, but you're a bit more important and people might be looking for you." Emma glanced at Regina who was smiling. "So I was thinking, it's about four and a half hours to Newark. We could stop there for the night. Let's see, it's 9:30 now. We should get there at about…let's say three o'clock if we stop for food and to use the bathroom."

"Sound's like a plan!" Regina responded, speeding up the car, their eyes set on Newark, New Jersey. "Oh, open the glove box." Regina stated, her eyes never leaving the road. Emma did as she was told and found a small wrapped box inside the console.

"What's this?" She asked, pulling out the gift.

"It's for you, silly. You didn't think I'd forget your birthday, did you?" Regina asked, and for the third time that day Emma's eyes filled with tears. She didn't get birthday presents. People didn't even remember her birthday to tell her happy birthday. "Open it, Miss Swan."

Emma opened the tiny package carefully, wanting to remember and savor this moment. The ripped paper revealed a small maroon colored box. Slowly, Emma opened the hinged box to reveal two glimmering, sparkling, shining diamond earrings.

"Regina…" Emma whispered, the tears spilling over onto her cheeks. "These are…this is…" She couldn't formulate the words to say. She had never received such a special gift before.

"It's nothing, really. I remember you said how you pierced your own ears when you were like 14 or something, but I noticed you never wear earrings so I got you some." Regina shrugged like it was no big deal. Like Emma wasn't over there melting inside. Emma couldn't believe that Regina remembered her saying that weeks ago.

"Thank you." Was all that Emma could get out in a whisper. She took the two pieces of jewelry from their place in the box and popped them into each ear, checking herself out in the mirror before turning to Regina with the biggest grin on her face.

"Beautiful" Regina whispered, turning to glance at Emma. "Happy Birthday, Emma."