Emma POV
A few days later.
Emma, Henry and Ruby are minutes away, from Mary Margaret's apartment.
"Did she say anything about meeting again?"
"Not really. It doesn't matter. Were be online pals and write letters, our whole lives, hey, how did you know it was a woman?"
Ruby glances sideways at her.
"Come on, you've never used he/him and when your mother would say he, your face said it all"
"Oh"
They go into the large rent-controlled apartment. Mary Margaret is pouring tea. There's a plate of cookies on the table.
Ruby is looking at the picture of Mary Margaret as a young woman, dressed in a sort of colorful get up.
"Where was this taken?"
"Spain"
Emma sits at the table.
"Have you decided what you're going to do?
"Close. We're going to close. Although it feels like such a failure. It feels like I'm quitting."
Emma puts her arm around her mother.
Keeping the store open doesn't keep your mother, my grandparents, alive, although sometimes I think we all think it does."
Later that Evening, Henry is in his bedroom and Emma and Neal are sitting on the sofa, she is telling him the store will close.
Neal sits in disbelief.
"Well, she's out of her mind."
"No, she's not"
"I could never be with someone who just gives in, to those right-wing pigs and doesn't take political issues as seriously as I do" he snaps.
"Well, I have something to tell you. I didn't vote, In the last mayoral election, I went to get my hair done, instead"
Neal looks at her disgustedly.
"It's okay. I forgive you." he whispers.
"You forgive me" her voice rising.
She gets up, walks to the kitchen, angrily putting cups into the sink.
"What's going on?"
Emma clearly upset.
"Hey. What is it? Look, this has been a big week, the store is closing"
Emma turns to him.
It's not that, Neal, really it's not. It's just..."
"I know, I shouldn't have been rude to you, but..." He trails off.
"This, us, it's not working" she mutters.
He nods his head.
"Its like, we've become different people"
Emma nods her head
They stand there for a few seconds
"That woman on the talk show?" Emma whispers
"Nothing's happened"
Emma pats his shoulder
"What about you, is there someone else?"
"Oh, somewhere out there, In cyberspace" she jokes.
"I'll go stay at my dad's tonight and find more suitable accommodation tomorrow"
"I'll explain everything to Henry" Emma adds.
"Once I get settled, he can come stay over"
"He will like that" she smiles.
He goes to the bedroom and packs a few things and leaves in a taxicab.
A week later
a sign goes up in the window: Closing This Week: All Stock 40% off.
The store is crowded. People are buying stacks of books. Mary Margaret is telling a customer she's planning to travel with her husband and Ruby saying she's been offered a job at a diner.
That morning, Emma had sent a message to imtheboss reading..
Where I work is closing this week. My parents own a store. Did I ever tell you that? Probably not. It's a lovely store, and in a week, it will be knocked down to make way for place full of discount stores, no doubt"
A woman shopper barges into Emma.
"Oh, sorry, you know, I came here every Saturday when I was a little girl. I remember when your mother gave me the stable boy. "Read it with a box of Kleenex," that's what she told me."
Emma smiled and looked over to her mother, who was talking with another shopper.
"I have promised myself I'm not going to cry." she told them.
This made Emma even more sad.
Later that day, Emma is walking, she finds herself outside the local authority buildings, she wonders in, looking at the information leaflets on the wall.
She sits down on a little child-size chair, completely wilted, staring at the ground.
Regina POV
Regina walks out of a door, she looks to her left, she see's Emma staring at the ground.
She wants to go over, but thinks it would, just end up in another mess.
She stands there for a moment and feels sad.
Graham comes up from behind.
"We going?"
"Of course"
As they approach Regina's black Mercedes, Archie runs out and asks for a lift home.
10 minutes later, they get stuck in a long traffic jam.
"When we get out of this, I'm having that buritto and the last beer in the fridge" Graham mutters.
"Well, I'm going to marry Anna. I love her. I don't know what's been stopping me." Archie says softly.
Graham turns his head.
"Are You Mad!"
Regina looks at Graham disgusted.
"Well, When I get out of this, I'm going to.." Graham interrupts Regina.
"Where's my phone!" he looks at Regina, who is looking at him disgustedly again.
"What?"
Regina appalled, sits up in her seat and stares out the window.
That Night, Graham leaves Regina's house with two bags and drives off
"I came home tonight and an hour later, my relationship was over, I was in a situation today, where I found myself wanting to have, what my friend had and Suddenly, everything had become clear."
Emma POV
Henry is watching the television.
Emma heads towards the dinning table, where her laptop now sits, since Neal left, she found herself rearranging the apartment.
"I wonder whether change isn't a kind of infection. You start with something you never ever thought would change and it does" she types
"Six months ago, when you and I first met, I knew what I would be doing for the rest of my life and even the person I would be doing it with. Now, I know nothing and it doesn't help that I have caught the flu and my son is going to stay with his father, in a little while, so he doesn't catch it"
"Also I'm lying in bed listening to cheesy love songs and drinking cranberry juice, which I am sorry to say is the same color as my nose. I keep thinking about my future. What future? What am I going to do"
Regina POV
That evening
There's a knock on Regina's door, she goes to open it.
"Sidney, What are you doing here?"
He looks down at the floor and sighs
She invites him in, both walk towards the red wooden sofa.
"I've come here, lets see, after Diane, Josie the waitress..."
"Both cheated on you, if I remember rightly" Regina smirked.
"Yeah, Well, it happened again"
"Really?"
Both shake their head and sit down.
"Who did you break up with again?" Sidney asks.
"Graham. You met him...Don't worry about it" Regina mutters.
"I won't, meeting someone else, is the easy part"
Regina raises an eyebrow.
"Oh, right, to find the one single person in the world who fills your heart with joy. It's that easy"
"Don't be ridiculous. Have I ever been with anyone who fits that description? Have you?"
Regina pauses and thinks of Emma and a few moments later
"On to the next then"
"Exactly"