It's six o'clock Monday morning and Regina wakes feeling exhausted. Sleep has seemed to evade her since the night of Emma's quick and unexpected departure. The brunette did manage to grab two or so hours of rest this morning, however judging by the way she currently feels, Regina thinks that she probably should have just stayed up. Sighing, the woman gets up from her bed and heads to the bathroom to prepare herself before heading to work.

While applying her make-up the brunette finds there is no way to totally hide the now ugly blue-purple bruise that takes up half of her right cheek. She does manage to hide it enough that it is unnoticeable from a distance but if someone were to get close it would be obvious. After five minutes of trying to, unsuccessfully, cover the bruise, Regina relents and continues getting ready. Throughout her morning routine all Regina could think about was Emma. Is she okay? Will she show up to class today? Will she talk to me?

Once Regina is as ready as she will ever be she checks the clock on her kitchen wall and sees that it is now 7:15. Having to be at work at 7:45 the brunette grabs her car keys and makes her way down the drive-way to her Mercedes. Getting in the car and closing the door Regina is just about to start the car up when she notices a torn piece of paper stuck under the wipers on her windshield. Figuring it was probably just an advertisement of some sort the brunette starts the car and begins backing out of her drive-way.

Becoming annoyed about the paper flapping on the windshield however, the brunette stops the car and turns her wipers on in an attempt to free the paper from its hold. After the third swipe it slips from underneath the wiper and drifts lightly in the air. Regina watches the paper flutter with mild curiosity. She can only make out the word 'I'm' and is about to dismiss it and continue driving until she notices something else. It's handwritten. As soon as this thought crosses the woman's mind she is out of the car and snatching the paper from the air. The brunette smooths the sheet out in her hands and then reads the note. Gasping, Regina drops the paper and brings her hand up to cover her mouth. Oh god.

"Goodbye Miss Mills. Thank you for trying. I'm Sorry.

-Emma"

Across town in the alley behind Granny's Diner Emma sits on top of her car and watches as the sun rises over the horizon. The sun, now having fully risen, shines down on Emma's skin making her pale skin seem slightly iridescent. The blonde glances down at her phone, checking the time once last time before she leaves. 7:27 glares back at her and Emma sighs. The blonde hauls herself down from the roof and enters her bug, weary and excited about the journey ahead. She hasn't decided where she is headed exactly. All she has managed to decide is that she wants to head south. Maybe go to Florida or California. All she truly knows is that she is leaving this place.

Doing a last minute check of her car Emma notices that she had forgotten to get gas. Seeing as the needle was pointing almost directly on the E there was no way to leave town first and then stop for gas. Mentally kicking herself Emma starts her car and heads to the only gas station in town. It's about a five minute drive and the blonde finds herself using this time to think about who she is leaving behind.

Mark and Karen, in Emma's opinion could just go fuck themselves. Miss Mills was super nice and tried to help but Emma barely knew her and figured the brunette teacher would forget about her soon anyways. Then there was Ruby. She had been Emma's best and only friend when no one else would. The blonde thinks about the last conversation her and Ruby had and grimaces. She hated to leave their friendship like that but Emma knew that if she went to fix things and say goodbye she wouldn't be able to leave. I can't. I have to go. I can't do this anymore. The blonde thinks. She finds herself pulling into the gas station suddenly and slams on the brakes in surprise. Emma realizes that she had completely zoned out on the drive to the station and she sends out silent thanks that her mind knew how to get here and that she hadn't crashed.

Regaining her bearings Emma drives to an open gas pump and parks the bug. She pulls the money she had been saving for three years from doing odd jobs from her pocket and heads inside the gas station. Upon entering she glances at the clock behind the register and sees that it is now 7:38. School will be starting in twenty minutes. She sighs at this thought and heads up to the counter.

Regina stays frozen in place, staring down at the note now laying on the ground. A thousand thoughts run through her mind, each new thought being worse than the previous one. Goodbye? Is she leaving? Where would she go? Oh god. Oh god what if this is…. What if she's…? Oh no. Oh god. The brunette snaps herself out of the trance before she can finish that thought. Frantically she looks at her watch, 7:28. Regina knows she must be at the school in fifteen minutes but she finds herself warring between going to work or searching for Emma.

I need this job. It's a good job. The brunette thinks and is just about to turn around and get in her car to go to work when a stray thought suddenly pops up. I need Emma. She gasps at the sudden thought and quickly corrects it in her mind. Emma needs ME.

Regina gets into her car, resolved to the fact that she must find her blonde student before anything could happen to her. Turning the key in the ignition the brunette is about to begin driving but then stops suddenly. Where would she be? That note has probably been there since Emma left Sunday morning. Where do I go? Close to an all-out break down Regina curses at herself. This is absolutely no time for a freak-out. Upon realizing this the brunette decides to make a plan, do this one step at a time.

Regina glances at her dashboard to check if she has enough gas to go driving all around town. Noticing that she only has just under a fourth of a tank left the brunette decides that step number one in her 'Find Emma' plan must be to get gas. Seeing as there was only one gas station in Storybrooke Regina drives in that direction, trying, and failing, to not continue freaking out about the blonde.

Emma is filling up her gas tank when her phone beeps from within her back pocket. She sighs and grabs it, unlocking the screen and clicking on her messages. The blonde feels a lump began to form in her throat as she realizes that the message is from Ruby.

Ruby: Hey Em. I know things have been shitty between us but can u meet me the front doors of school? We need 2 talk.

Letting a tear fall Emma closes her phone and places it on the trash bin next to the pump, resigned to continue on. She would get a new phone and a new number once she was in a new town. The blonde knew that Ruby would be upset and then worried when Emma didn't respond or show up but this was something she needed to do. She hoped Ruby would understand. Someday…

Suddenly feeling very eager to leave Emma finishes filling up her bug and hurries to the driver's seat. The blonde pulls out of the gas station and heads down the quite road, heading south and not looking back. Never looking back.

Regina pulls into the gas station and parks in front of the nearest pump. Exiting her car, the brunette walks into the store to pay for her gas. Once the gas has been paid for she starts to pump it into her car, mind continuing to question Emma's possible whereabouts.

Her gaze begins to wander around the scenery, not really seeing, while she thinks. A loud *beep* jolts Regina from her thoughts and she looks around, confused. A flashing light from atop the trash bin catches the brunette's eye and she walks over to find a forgotten cellphone. Planning to take it in to the gas station for 'Lost and Found', Regina picks the phone up. Apparently the beep that had startled the brunette was a message and she finds herself looking down at the flashing screen.

Ruby: Emma? Are you still mad? Plz answer me…

Gasping, Regina almost drops the phone but catches it at the last minute. This is Emma's phone! How long has it been here? Why would she leave her phone? If she doesn't need a phone… Regina forcibly stops her thought process before it can lead down that road again. She decides to scroll through the messages to see if there was any clue to where Emma might be.

After scrolling for a couple of minutes, Regina becomes frustrated that this would lead nowhere. She frantically tries to come up with a way to use the phone to find Emma. She was so close, Regina could feel it. Suddenly the brunette has an idea and sprints into the store coming to a skidding halt at the counter.

"Excuse me." Regina huffs out, still momentarily out of breathe. "Was there a blonde girl in here earlier? She was young, in high school."

The man behind the counter peers down at her curiously. "Uh, yeah. You just missed her. She left about 10 minutes ago."

"She…She was just here..." The brunette says this as a statement, in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Uh, yeah." The man answers, even more curious than before.

"Which way did she go?!" Regina practically yells but then blushes and looks down. "Sorry, I'm just worried about her."

"Uh, she went that way." The man indicates the direction by pointing out the window.

Without giving the man a second glance Regina throws a quick, 'Thank you' over her shoulder as she sprints out the door and hurriedly climbs into her car. The brunette throws the Mercedes in drive and speeds off down the quiet road.