NOTE: This next part and what Regina says, it's kind of personal to me because it's based on what happened to a friend of mine. So if anyone has anything negative to say about it, I would appreciate it if you did so in a PM to me, and not in the comment section. Thank you.

Katherine opened the door to let Emma in.

"She's freshening up," Katherine said as a way to explain why Regina wasn't there to greet her.

"I won't be staying long," Emma said.

They waited another minute for Regina to enter the room. Katherine went up to Regina. "I will call you tomorrow," she said before walking to the door. "Good night Emma."

Emma didn't say anything to her as she left.

The two women stood there staring at each other for several heartbeats.

"Do you want to sit down?" Regina said.

"No," Emma said, crossing her arms. "I just came to tell you that I've gotten your numerous messages and I get that you're sorry, but it doesn't really matter. Look you and I are from two different worlds. A friendship was … well it wasn't ever going to work so I think it's best if we stick to our own worlds from here on out."

Emma stepped to the door.

"Please," Regina said. "I want to explain …"

"Explain what?" Emma said whirling around to face her. "Do you want to explain how I ended up being the bad guy that night when all I did was come here to make sure you and Henry were ok? Or maybe explain why you immediately jumped to the idea that since I am a lesbian I must be after you sexually? What is it that you think you can say that will make a bit of difference?"

"I don't know," Regina said. "I don't know that anything I say will make a difference, but I have to try. Please Emma, please don't leave. Give me a chance."

"Why should I?"

"Because your friendship means so much to me, and did I ruin it, yes I did, but I want the chance to fix it. I don't deserve the chance, I know this, but I am going to ask for it anyway," Regina pleaded.

"Did Stephen hit you?"

"What?"

"You heard me. I asked you that night if Stephen had hit you before and you said no. Was that true?"

Regina bowed her head slightly and then shook her head no. "No," she said out loud after a moment.

Emma turned from her and hit the door with her fist and then faced Regina again. "Why did you lie to me?"

"Do you think me being hit my husband was something to be proud of? It only happened the one time after we were separated and during the worst part of our divorce. I didn't even know that Henry knew. I never even told Katherine that happened. And you … I didn't want you of all people knowing that."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Regina licked her lips and sighed. "You deal with people who are victims every day you work. I didn't want you thinking of me like that."

"I don't think of you that way, even knowing what I know now I don't think of you like a victim. Jesus, the first time I saw you, you took on a man who had a knife to your throat and you freed yourself from him. Lots of people have been victims of domestic violence but it doesn't mean it defines who they are. When Henry told me that Stephen had done that though I couldn't sit by and risk that he would do it again. Your son called me. He called me because he was worried about you and he didn't know what to do about it."

"I know," Regina said desperately. "That night … it got out of control so fast and then you showed up and … first of all, I am sorry. What I said to you that night was inexcusable and I understand if you find it completely unforgivable …"

"Why did you say it?" Emma interrupted.

"I don't really know why I said it, at least not why I chose that moment to say it. My emotions that night were … I don't like feeling out of control of a situation and that is exactly what happened that night. I don't handle personal conflict well," Regina said. "I was on the defensive and then you showed up and instead of keeping my focus on Stephen I was cruel to you and you didn't deserve that. You did nothing wrong, you haven't done anything wrong."

Emma crossed her arms again, studying Regina. She could tell the other woman was genuinely remorseful about what she had said, but it wasn't enough for Emma to even think about forgiving her.

"You still haven't explained why you said it," Emma said. "I'm not an idiot. In the weeks before all of that you had dropped enough hints for me to understand that you weren't looking for anything but friendship from me. Did you think because I am a lesbian that I am incapable of maintaining a friendship with a woman, even one I find attractive?"

"I wasn't thinking of you at all when I said it," Regina said. "I was thinking of myself, of protecting myself. Not from you. I hope you can understand that." She paused, not knowing how to proceed and she could tell Emma's patience with her was waning.

"I was engaged once before Stephen," Regina continued. "I was happy and I was in love and I was with the woman I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with. Her name was Danielle, and I was so taken with her that I got my grandmother's engagement ring from my mother and I asked Danielle to marry me. She didn't even hesitate to say yes. We were engaged for five months and then one night she destroyed me. I don't know any other way to describe it. When Stephen first cheated on me, I was upset and I was angry but in some ways it wasn't that big of a deal to me and I realized later it was because while what he did hurt, it wasn't even in the same realm of hurt for what Danielle did to me. I have carried that hurt with me for a long time; not really facing it or dealing with it until that night I lashed out at you and I realized why I did it was because I didn't want to be in a position to be hurt like that again. I know it sounds stupid and I know you wouldn't hurt me like she did, but I had spent the years after Danielle building a life that would ensure I was never put in that kind of situation again and then you came into my life and for the first time I was having to deal with having feelings for a woman again – feelings that went further than friendship."

Emma was taken aback by the admission. She had thought Regina had been dropping all the friendship references and not being ready for a relationship hints because she was afraid Emma was going to hit on her and ruin things, but by what she was saying now it was less about Emma and more about what she was feeling.

"What did this Danielle do to you?" Emma asked, and she felt bad immediately because she could see a flicker of remembered pain briefly pass Regina's countenance.

"Would you like to sit down, it's not a brief story."

Emma nodded and Emma took a seat in the chair while Regina sat on the couch.

"I am bisexual," she began. "I know you and I have never officially stated what our sexualities are and really, it's not something I discuss much anymore. I was engaged to a woman and then married to a man so there are a lot of people who know and there are a lot of people who don't know. Like Henry. He knows nothing of my past relationships and I have seen no reason to talk to him about it. I guess for all intent and purposes, since dating Stephen I've lived life like I was straight. Before Danielle, I never saw being bisexual as something I should be ashamed of. I mean I can't help that I am attracted to women and men. I like to think that the way I was raised – being exposed to a lot of different cultures – that it made me accepting of myself and others. I had dated men and women but my relationships tended to be short-lived. I was always so focused on my professional goals that I tended to put something like love on the back burner. Then I met Danielle."

"She was working for a marketing firm that was doing mock ups for advertising for a restaurant I was working at. I was fresh out of culinary school and this was my first placement and she was a junior ad rep for the firm, but had come to the restaurant with a senior rep in order to learn the ins and outs of running a major campaign. I wasn't even supposed to be there but the chef had asked me to come in when someone else called in sick. We weren't open yet, but we cooked a meal for some display shots. I saw her and she saw me and she smiled and I smiled back. I don't recall saying more than a couple of words to her that entire time."

"The next day she called the restaurant, asked for me and then asked me out on a date. I accepted and we dated for three years – moving in together after two years – and then I asked her to marry me. I should back up a moment. Danielle is a lesbian and I had no issue with that obviously but I didn't realize how much me being bisexual bothered her."

Regina stopped talking a moment and Emma didn't say anything in the interim.

"There were signs of course, things I chose to ignore at the times they happened. She would make comments to our friends – small things like 'I've been waiting for Regina to come out of the closet' or 'don't ask Regina to make a decision, she can't even choose between men and women.' She would say things like that in a joking manner and while I didn't find it funny, I never called her on it either. I loved her and I was secure in the idea that she loved me and this was just some little insignificant thing with her. Danielle is very much out there – she is very active in Pride Week and working toward equal rights. I admired her for it, and while together I helped her when I could. It was a busy time for me and my career because I was still in someone else's kitchen – I wasn't a head chef or anything. When I couldn't help her out because of this, she'd get upset or accusatory about why I didn't find these activities to be worth my time."

"When we became engaged, I thought it would show her that I was committed not just to her but to all the things that made her happy. Then one night I had an offer to meet with a restaurant owner to be a head chef. It was the opportunity I had been waiting for. These things tend to happen fast in our business because if there is a hot, up and coming chef, if you are an owner you want to snag that person before someone else does. I had to work that day at my job so I couldn't meet this owner until afterwards. It was late – I had brought clothes to change into and made myself presentable and went to his restaurant. I cooked a dish and spoke with him for two hours, which really isn't that much time, but it's not like he was unfamiliar with me either. He offered me the job that night and I accepted. I went home and I was so excited that I hadn't even called or texted Danielle afterward because I wanted to tell her in person."

"This was like three in the morning at this time and I came home with a bottle of wine to celebrate. Danielle was in bed and I woke her and I told her the good news and she said congratulations in a tone that suggested she was anything but happy for me and then said she had a bad headache and maybe we could celebrate later. The celebration never happened because after a few days of getting the cold shoulder things blew up between us. It was a few weeks before the next Pride Week and it was a Saturday afternoon and we were at a friend's house where Danielle was running a planning meeting. Someone asked if I was going to be at a party that was going on during kickoff weekend and I told them I didn't know and I explained about accepting the new job and Danielle says in front of everyone that 'Pride isn't as important to people who are too afraid to come out of the closet.' There was this moment of awkward silence and then some people told me congratulations on the new job and the rest of the time Danielle and I didn't exchange a single word until we got home."

"I immediately asked her what was wrong, if I had done something and she apologizes to me for saying what she had said in front of everyone but that she wouldn't apologize for saying the actual words. She started going on and on about how she was tired of me living in denial and that before we got married she needed me to stop pretending that me saying I was bisexual was anything more than a way to appease my parents so they didn't have to tell people I was a lesbian. I was beyond shocked. Sure I had seen prejudice against people – my mother sees it all the time in her work – I wasn't blind to it, but for her to say that to me."

"I tried to explain, to reason with her and make her understand I wasn't a lesbian and I wasn't going to come out of the closet like she wanted me to do. I had already done my coming out and she laughed at me and asked how could I when all I was telling people when I said I was bisexual was that I was a lesbian who was too afraid to admit it so I had to make up this fantasy that I was actually attracted to men. I couldn't understand how this person I had given my heart to could not see who I really was. Even with that though I didn't think things were going to end between us and then she um … then she said …"

Emma watched as a tear came down Regina's face. She could tell Regina had been crying earlier because of her bloodshot eyes, but something about seeing that single tear slide down her skin made Emma feel like she was seeing not some far away pain, but a present hurt.

"You don't have to say anything," Emma said. "You don't have to put yourself through this for my benefit."

"No, I need you to hear this," Regina said resolutely. She didn't bother to wipe away the tear. "She said there was nothing a man could give me that she couldn't, after all neither she nor any man could ever give me a child."

Regina looked away from her this time as she composed herself. Emma heard her give a big intake of breath before turning back to her.

"About a year before I had asked her to marry me, I found out I couldn't have children. I was infertile and even though at the time I wasn't really thinking about having children, it still hurt so much and for her to throw that back in my face like that … and the thing was, she wasn't even apologetic about it. It didn't make her pause and think about what she had said or what that meant to me. She merely looked at me and said if I couldn't admit I was a lesbian then she couldn't marry me. She took the ring off her hand and placed it on the coffee table and she walked out."

"I was in a real bad place in the aftermath. I stayed in a hotel for a while to give her the chance to get her stuff out – Katherine coordinated it all because I wouldn't speak to her and she didn't try to reach out to me. The place was in my name but I didn't want to be there afterwards so I moved. I poured all my energy into my new job and I tried to forget about the fact that the woman I loved had this hate for me because of something I couldn't control. It messed with me more than I could have expected. Then one day I decided that I wasn't ever going to be hurt like that again. I was going to protect myself from it at all costs. And then I met you and you made me feel things I swore I would never feel for another woman again. That night with Stephen, when you showed up, I don't know how to explain it except to say that I felt like two worlds were colliding and I had to get control of it and when I said that to you, I realized what I had done was no better than what Danielle had done to me."

"I kept calling you and calling you to apologize and then I stopped but I still wasn't happy; in fact I was miserable. I needed you to hear me out whether you ever forgave me or not. I needed you to know that it wasn't you that I was angry at that time, I was angry at myself. She made me feel that being like this, being attracted to two genders was wrong and she succeeded so well in it that the first time since then that I have felt a connection with another woman – I ignored it and I pushed it away but in order to do so I had to push you away too. You didn't deserve that. I'm sorry."

Emma sat there silently thinking about all that Regina had said. Finally she stood up. "I'm sorry your ex treated you like that," she said. "I'm sorry she hurt you. What you said that night to me hurt me too. I've spent a lot of time thinking about it, maybe too much time, and while I appreciate you trying to explain it, I just don't know that it make a difference. I need some time and I'm asking you to give me that. No more texts, no more calls. I will contact you if this is something I think I can get past. If not, I'm still glad I met you Regina and Henry."

She said nothing else as she walked to the door, pausing only a couple of seconds with her hand on the doorknob before exiting.