Emma and Regina sat in Regina's study, each with their own glass of cider. Emma sat stiffly on a small couch and Regina comfortably in a big, cushiony chair. The silence between them was heavy, but it wasn't awkward; just waiting to be filled with sounds other than the sipping from glass tumblers. Regina watched Emma as she looked around the room at the dark oak paneled walls and the pictures of Regina and Henry, even some with her, hanging on them until she finally broke the silence.

"Regina?"

"Yes dear?"

"Will you talk about me?" Emma turned back and looked at Regina intently.

"Excuse me?" Regina shifted forward and set her glass on the coffee table in front of her, confused and slightly surprised.

"I want to know about me. Who I used to be. I want to know who I should be." Regina winced.

"First of all, there's no one that you should be."

"Well, don't you want me to be like I was before?"

"No. Well, yes, but… Don't focus on being who you were before. Focus on being happy, and when you've got some free time, focus on the memories."

"I still want to know."

"What would you like to know?"

"I mean you told me about us, but what about the rest of me?"

"The rest of you..." Regina bit her lip and thought for a moment. She couldn't tell Emma about magic... What else was there? "You mean like your favorite color?"

"Yeah, like my favorite color." Emma let out a short laugh and took another sip of her cider before setting the glass down, kicking off her boots, and folding her legs underneath herself Regina smiled. Some things never change.

"Well... your favorite color was blue. You wore that red leather jacket all the time. Everyday, everywhere, no matter what. You never wore anything else, even slept in it sometimes. And you loved your car. I could not get you to trade it in for something, anything safer. I suppose you had memories associated with it, I don't know. I never asked. You loved roller coasters and you used to drag me on them, even though I'm absolutely terrified. I think it was mostly because you wanted to be able to hold me while I was scared." Regina's laugh that came out was sad. Her voice drifted away; she reliving her memories more than she was telling Emma about them anymore. "You loved scary movies too and sunsets and picnics in the park with Henry and I. You loved to just get in the car and drive, no destination and no purpose. You loved to surprise Henry and me with gifts; video games, jewelry, fancy dinners" As her hand automatically reached up to finger the necklace Emma had given her on their first date, Regina found tears falling down her face. She hadn't realized how much she missed her wife. Emma went over, sat next to Regina, and hugged her, letting Regina bury her face into red leather and squeeze her so tight, Emma could feel her vertebrae popping.

"Its OK Regina, really. You didn't have to tell me all that."

"Yes... I did."

"No-"

"Yes I did Emma." Regina pulled away. "It's your past you have a right to know." She sniffled. "You have to know..." They sat in silence for almost a full minute before Emma spoke again.

"You wanted it to help me remember something, didn't you?" Regina nodded sadly, then sniffled again. Emma pulled Regina into another hug as tears started falling again, resting her head on her shoulder until Regina had cried herself out. Emma waited until Regina pulled away, then sat up.

"Come on, I didn't come here to cry." She wiped a stray tear on Regina's face with her thumb and smiled. "What do you want to talk about?" Regina looked at Emma and shrugged her shoulders before she took a deep breath. "Well, I've got an idea."

"Would you mind sharing it?" Regina laughed a little.

"Have you ever played twenty questions?"

"I think everyone on the planet has dear." Emma smiled.

"Good, because that's what we're playing." Regina smirked.

"I haven't played that with Henry since he was 7."

"So?" Regina smiled.

"It's astonishing to me that with or without your memories you can still manage to be so childish." Emma grinned a toothy smile.

"We don't have to guess. You could just answer the questions." Emma suggested.

"That would be considered just a normal conversation dear."

"Oh." Emma's face fell. "Well then, I guess we'll just have to have a 'normal conversation'." She smiled as she made air quotations. Regina laughed and smiled, nodding. "I'll ask the first question." Regina waited. "Since you told me mine, what's your favorite color?" Regina bit her lip.

"My favorite color is..." She thought for a minute before answering. "Black." Emma raised an eyebrow.

"A little depressing, don't you think?" Regina smiled.

"Black's always been my color."

"What's your favorite food?"

"Coffee. Definitely coffee."

"Coffee doesn't count as a food!"

"Then what does?"

"Food. Not a drink." Regina smiled.

"Alright then... chocolate chip cookies. I always tell Henry I won't buy them because he gets enough sugar as it is, but the truth is, if they're in the house, I'll eat them all." Regina admitted as she giggled like a teenager telling her friends who her crush is. "But you can't tell Henry! I'll never hear the end of it..." Emma made a motion like she was zipping her lips shut and throwing the key away.

"Your secret's safe with me." Both women laughed.

The questions went on like that for another hour or two, filled with laughter and relaxing, something neither Regina nor Emma had felt very much of in the past few weeks. The questions went back and forth a few times, both warming up to the other more and more. Even though Regina got up more than once to make sure that Henry was getting his homework done, it never broke the comfortable atmosphere that they had created in Regina's study.

It had gotten to be late enough that when Emma finally checked her phone, she had three missed calls from Mary Margaret and a 'where are you?' text from David.

"Mistakes have been made..." Emma shook her head as she let it fall into her hands.

"Is everything OK Emma?"

"Mary Margaret and David are looking for me... I mean, I just feel bad, ya know? They're probably wondering where I am and-"

"It's alright, I understand. Mary Margaret probably just wants to make sure that you're going to eat dinner. Regina walked Emma to the door as they laughed, both women grinning widely.

"Thanks for letting me hang out with you this afternoon. It was fun to have someone to really talk to."

"Thank you for helping me laugh a little. It's been a while. I actually think my stomach is sore." Regina said as she giggled a little more. Emma smiled at Regina and Regina smiled at Emma.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around." Regina nodded, still smiling. Emma bit her lip as she started backing up, then turned and headed to her car.

"See you around."

"Have a nice night!" Emma called over her shoulder, smiling as she threw a short wave into the air. Regina smiled.

"You too dear!" Regina waved after her then watched until Emma got into the little yellow car, then closed the front door. She leaned up against it, sighing heavily. Emma pulled away from the driveway still smiling as she set off down the road.

Regina woke up the next morning to hear Henry banging around in the kitchen and groaned, rolling over. He really needed to be quieter in the morning. No one, ever, should have to up at the un-godly hour of 5:30 am. She woke up once again at 6:15 am when her alarm went off and she sighed, pawing at her nightstand blindly until she found the button to turn the alarm off. She got up and made the bed before heading off to shower. She got herself ready and made some coffee, pouring it into a travel mug before heading out to the office for a day filled with meetings and paperwork.

Emma woke up at 7:00 am, being gently woken by Mary Margaret, just to tell her that she was going to get home late that night due to parent – teacher conferences. Emma grunted her understanding and that was enough for Mary Margaret as she left. The blonde rolled herself out of bed ten minutes later and threw on her usual jeans, camisole and red leather jacket, especially after her conversation last night with Regina. She ran a brush through her hair before deciding she should go out and find something to do with herself.

Emma walked into Granny's for breakfast and walked toward Belle at the counter who, of course, had her nose in a book, but at least looked to see who it was. When she saw it was Emma, she perked up. She put in her bookmark and closed it, setting it aside.

"Hey, am I disturbing you?" Emma asked. "'Cause I can go somewhere else if you wanna keep reading..."

"No, not all. Please, sit." The blonde grinned and sat on the stool. Belle bit her lip. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm pretty good, I guess. How about you?"

"About the same." She hesitated asking her next question, but she did anyways, the want for the answer burning away inside of her. "Have you remembered anything?"

"No... I haven't. Sorry." Belle could see it bothered her and it did. She shook her head and smiled sympathetically.

"It's alright Emma. I shouldn't have asked." She decided to ask something easier. "So what have you been up to?" She tried. Emma smiled.

"Absolutely nothing. That's why I decided to go out today. To find something to do. I guess I'm going to be here awhile so I might as well make myself useful." Belle smiled. There was the old Emma, never content being still even for a second.

"Well, the sheriff station is always looking for recruits. David's the only working there right now and I guess he's been a little backed up with saving cats from trees." They both laughed. "Well, I gotta head out. Those books aren't going shelve themselves." Emma smiled and nodded as both women laughed.

"Alright."

"And remember, if the sheriff station thing doesn't work out, I could always use some help over at the library." Emma smiled again.

"I don't think anyone could be as good at the Dewey decimal system as you are." She teased.

"You could learn." Belle left some money on the counter. "See you later!" She called over her shoulder as she left. Emma finished drinking her coffee and paid. She smiled at Ruby who was cleaning a table as she left. She got into her bug and headed over to the station, where David had his feet up on his desk, playing a game on his phone.

"Damnit!" He shouted as he died for what Emma guessed was the thousandth time. Emma started laughing from the doorway and his head shot up. His phone disappeared into his pocket and his face turned bright red. "Sorry about that..."

"No, don't apologize, that was hilarious." She was still smiling.

"Alright enough poking fun, Emma." He smiled. "What's up?"

"So, I was talking to Belle this morning in Granny's." He nodded. "And I told her about how I'm looking for something to do and she mentioned that you were all alone over here and that you might not mind some help. So I thought that maybe..." David smiled.

"Yes, you can help me out. I would love it actually." Emma grinned.

"Great! When do I start?" He bit his lip, smiling.

"Did she really not tell you?"

"Did who really not tell me what?"

"Belle. You used to be sheriff Emma." Her eyes widened.

"Really?"

"Really. In fact, I as of this moment, you are reinstated." He took the star off his uniform and handed it over.

"I don't know if I'm exactly qual-"

"You'll do fine. You had never been sheriff the first time either and you did a fantastic job. I have total faith in you." Emma ran her thumb over the gold face of the star before slipping it into her pocket. She smiled.

"Thanks David, really."

"Don't worry about it Emma, it's no big deal." he smirked to himself. "Because this," He pointed to a massive pile of papers sitting on the desk his feet had once been resting on. "is now your responsibility." He started laughing as she face palmed herself.

"You're a real jerk, you know that?" She joked and punched him lightly on the arm. He threw up his hands in defense.

"Hey! You're the one who wanted the job!" She smiled.

"I know. And I appreciate it, honestly" She then sat down at the desk to figure out what the heck she had signed up for.

Emma finally left the station at 7, refusing to leave until she had finished her work, despite David's persistent encouraging for her to finish it the next day. The sun was setting as she drove, bouncing light off of her mirrors irritatingly into her eyes. She groaned and was grateful when she finally turned into the driveway of Mary Margaret and David's apartment. She clomped her way up the stairs, strangely exhausted after having not done much all day. Well, that was relatively speaking. Thinking was much harder for her than running a mile or doing some push-ups. She went in quietly, assuming that Neal would be asleep, but he wasn't. Mary Margaret was just setting him down for bed. They smiled at each other and Emma headed into the kitchen. She grabbed a soda and some pretzels and sat on a stool at the counter as she let her head fall against the countertop. Mary Margaret soon joined her, sitting softly in an identical stool.

"Hey."

"Hey." came a tired reply.

"Rough day at the office?" Mary Margaret laughed softly at her own joke, knowing full well what Emma had been through.

"More than you know. Thinking is hard, did you know that?" Mary Margaret giggled again.

"It turns out, you're going to have to think you're whole life." Emma groaned.

"Really? That sucks." She play-whined, making both of the start to laugh as David came down from upstairs.

"Hey, are you two having too much fun without me?" Both heads turned.

"Nope, no fun at all. Just sitting here, having a horrible time without you." Mary Margaret teased. He sat next to his wife and wrapped his arm around her waist. "I didn't expect you to actually finish all that work on your own Emma." He said apologetically.

"It's alright, really. It was a nice change from the usual drag." They both smiled as Emma stood up. "But at the same time, I am wiped. I'm gonna go to bed." She set her dishes in the sink and headed up.

"Don't you want anything else to eat? I made chicken for dinner." Mary Margaret asked.

"Nah, I'm good. I just don't have an appetite tonight I guess."

"Alright… goodnight." came from Mary Margaret.

"Night." sounded from David. They heard the door to Emma's room shut and David sighed. "I really do feel bad about her finishing all that..."

"It's fine honey, she wanted to, so let her do it." He sighed and nodded. They sat in silence for a few moments before Neal stirred a little and made little cooing sounds that sounded too much like crying for Mary Margaret to ignore it. She got up to check on him, but he was fine; just dreaming. Once he had settled back down she turned around and yawned.

"I think I'll go to sleep too. I know it's early, but Neal will be up in a few hours anyway." Her husband nodded as he yawed as well. Weeks without sleep wasn't faring either of them too well.

"That sounds like a fantastic idea. I'll be in in a minute." Mary Margaret headed off to their bedroom and David sat staring into space, not necessarily thinking consciously, but he could feel the process happening. Soon, he got up and went over to the crib, pressed a kiss to his son's forehead and followed his wife off to bed.

The next morning David and Emma went into the station together in David's truck, finding it useless for them each to take their own car if they were both commuting to and from the same place. It was a slow, painful morning, as David told Emma most were, and she could find herself wanting more paperwork to do. Finally, David's phone and they both lurched forward in the excitement for something, anything to do.

"Hello?"

"Hello David. It's Regina. I've heard Emma's got her job back?"

"You've heard correctly."

"Well you have been sitting on quite the pile of work that I need. I was hoping that a new sheriff would mean that the whole department might have turned a new leaf?"

"Meaning?" Regina sighed in frustration. Even if he had become family, Regina could still think about killing him, right?

"Is the paperwork done?"

"Yes."

"Then why the hell isn't it on my desk?"

"It can be in about 5 minutes."

"Very well David. The clock is ticking." And with that, she hung up, leaving David to listen to the dial tone before he hung up the phone himself.

"Who was it?" Emma sat forward and rested her arms on her knees.

"That was Regina. She wants all that paperwork you did, like right now."

"I can do it." She smiled and got up, going over to the filing cabinet.

"You sure?"

"Yeah no biggie." She packed it up into a few manila folders and piled them on her desk. David tossed her the keys to the cruiser and Emma caught them with one hand. "Be back soon." Emma promised as she gathered the pile of folders into her arms and headed out. Throwing the folders in the back of the car she headed over to the Town Hall. She headed inside, but was stopped by the secretary.

"What business do you have?" She asked blandly and Emma felt bad for her.

"I'm here to drop off some paperwork for Regina."

"Very well. What's your name?"

"Emma. Emma Swan." The secretary pressed a button on an intercom. "Mayor Mills, the sheriff is here to see you." She released the button.

"Let her in." came a lucid voice from the other side. Emma got a nod that she could go ahead and she went did. Regina was seated at her desk, writing something. She heard Emma enter and took off her reading glasses, folding the arms on top of each other and setting them on her desk very precisely. She stood up and walked around her desk.

"Hello Emma." She smiled a little.

"Hey. I heard you threw a fit over these?" She held out the folders with one hand. Regina smiled and looked down for a half a second laughing to herself before taking them.

"I did not throw a fit. I simply showed you-" Regina caught herself. "David that these-" She held up the folders. "were not something that I wanted to wait for much longer." Now it was Emma's turn to smile.

"Why aren't you more like you were the other night?"

"What do you mean dear?"

"You were laughing and smiling and happy. You lead everyone else to believe that you are a cold hearted monster that is incapable of feeling any emotion except for anger." Regina laughed out loud.

"Because dear, no one is this town would listen to me if I was such a teddy bear all the time." Emma nodded. Regina could hear her heart pounding in her chest louder than anything else that she almost missed what Emma said.

"I can see that. But doesn't that cause problems too?" They both found themselves making eye contact with the other for much too long, but neither could bring themselves to look away. Regina was the first to force her eyes to tear themselves away from Emma's captivating green orbs. Emma followed suit, blushing vividly.

"Well, thank you for the papers but I should probably get back to work." Regina took a step back and held the folders in front of herself with both hands.

"Yeah, me too. I have to save such a crime-ridden town." She smiled and Regina returned it, heading back to her desk. With a final wave over her shoulder goodbye Emma left, got in the cruiser and headed back to the station.

Regina sat down at her desk and let her head crash forward into the wood.

"Goddammit!" She sat for a few moments silently cursing at herself. She finally pulled herself back together enough and tried to distract herself with work, but it was useless. The same question kept ringing in her head: How could I let myself fall back in love with Emma Swan?