A/N: Sorry it has taken me so long to update, but I promise things are getting better! My novel is on its second draft now and I am finally able to get back to this story! So thank you for sticking with me!

"Is something wrong sweetie?" Emma's mother had been watching her daughter slump her way around the kitchen as she poured herself a cup of coffee. Emma's shoulders were hunched and her lips were turned down at the corners. Mary Margaret had a feeling that she knew what was bothering Emma but she would rather her daughter tell her than have to pry it out of her. "Earth to Emma. Emma?"

"What? Did you say something?" Dull green eyes focused on Mary Margaret.

Mary Margaret looked up at her daughter from her wheelchair with a sympathetic smile. "Emma, why don't you just go to her?" Emma looked puzzled.

"Who? Regina? I was just there this weekend to see her and Henry." Emma replied in confusion.

"Yes, but with the time it takes to drive there and back, couple that with time spent sleeping, how much do you really see each other? Then when you come back you are dragging yourself around for the first half of the week and then bouncing off the walls the next half because you're so anxious to see them again. That's no way to live Emma."

Emma rolled her eyes as she took a long sip of her coffee, she prayed that the caffeine would activate right away, she wouldn't admit it to her mother but she did feel like a zombie, not alive but not yet dead. "I have a job here mom. I have to work."

Mary Margaret crossed her arms. "You can get a job anywhere Emma. You don't have to stay here, what is the real reason?" Mary Margaret raised her hand slowly to her mouth. "It's not me is it? You're not staying here because you feel you need to take care of me are you?"

Emma shook her head. "No mom that's not the reason." She knew the real reason why she was unable to leave home. She was scared. They had gone on a few dates together since everything began to settle down and if Emma was being completely honest with herself, things had not gone well. Their conversations had felt stilted, there were long periods of silence and awkwardness.

Those uncomfortable encounters were now resulting in Emma pulling away from Regina emotionally. It upset her tremendously to think that perhaps she had put Regina on a pedestal for too long and now that they had a chance to be together perhaps the fantasy was better than the reality. The question dogged her at work and kept her up at night while she stared at her ceiling on her bed.

Did they really belong together?

Mary Margaret looked at her daughter and could see the turmoil churning inside her. She knew her daughter had issues with commitment in relationships, whenever things got serious Emma would run. Although Lily had been Emma's longest relationship, Mary Margaret had still gone through a lot of midnight freak out talks with her daughter.

"Emma." Mary Margaret took her daughter's hand and spoke softly. "You're getting in your own way. You are looking for problems where there aren't any. You and Regina have a special connection, and now there is nothing standing in your way except your own fear."

Emma looked down at her coffee mug and stared at the dark brew in silence.

"He is such a big boy!" Ruby held Henry high above her head in her arms, earning giggles from the happy child. "Yes him is! Yes him is!" She attacked his belly with raspberries causing the six month old to laugh uncontrollably.

Regina smiled broadly as she watched her best friend play with her son. Well, Henry was their son really. Her's and Emma's. Ruby noticed the thoughtful look on Regina's face just then and grinned knowingly.

"Soooo…" Her friend said with a raised eyebrow and a playful smirk. "How are things going with you and Emma?" Regina sighed and turned her eyes to the ceiling of her friend's living room and Ruby frowned. "Something wrong in paradise?"

"No. Well-no-I don't know." Regina stammered and looked flustered surprising the restaurateur.

Ruby cradled the busy little Henry in her arms as she looked at Regina with compassion in her eyes. "I have never seen you look so conflicted Regina. What's wrong girl?"

Sitting on the couch near her friend, Regina nervously ran her fingers through her raven colored hair and then rested her face in her palms. "I don't know Ruby." She spoke with a muffled voice through her hands before she raised her head to look at Ruby. "I imagined this being different. I mean we're finally able to be together! There's nothing standing in our way of being together now! We should be happy." She blew out a deep breath and her shoulders sagged.

"But you're not." Ruby finished her thought for her.

"I don't know. Maybe we are?" Regina shrugged. "Our relationship, if you can even call it that, doesn't seem to be going just seems like Emma's being so distant. When she's here it seems like she can't wait to leave again. I don't understand it Ruby."

"Regina, I've known Emma all my life and I think I know what's going on with her." Regina waited on pins and needles for Ruby to continue. "She's scared."

"Scared?"

"Sure, she's scared. Scared that things are about to get real now."

Regina thought about Ruby's words but they didn't make sense to her. Emma? Scared? Emma wasn't afraid of anything, at least that was what Regina had always believed. The Emma she knew was fearless. But maybe she didn't know Emma as well as she thought.

"Earth to Regina." Ruby's voice snapped her back to the outside world. "You still with me?"

"Yes. I'm sorry Ruby, I was just thinking." Regina's voice was soft and distant and Ruby could tell something was weighing on her friend's mind.

"What is it Regina? What's really bothering you?"

"What if she's having second thoughts about us? Maybe she realizes that I'm not what she wanted. Maybe I was just a representation to her of some ideal person that she wanted. Or thought she wanted. What if I disappointed her? What if she realizes she doesn't want me? What if I'm not good enough?"

Ruby saw the tears begin to build up in Regina's eyes and it broke her heart. She knew that Regina had grown up feeling that she wasn't special and that no one would ever love her. Ruby wished that she knew where Cora was so she could kick her ass for making her friend feel that way.

"Now you listen to me madam mayor." Ruby's voice held humor but also an earnestness that she hoped would get through to Regina. "You could never disappoint anyone. And I never want to hear you say that you think you're not good enough. You are smart, you are beautiful, you have one of the biggest hearts I know and if I wasn't straight I would be all over you." Regina had to chuckle just then. "Now I know Emma and she can be a bit dense at times, she can't see what's right in front of her. Hell all through high school you were dropping hints left and right and the girl still didn't know you liked her! Emma's going to want to run from her feelings, it's what she does. But you need to stop her, go after her, do whatever you have to do to get her. Because you two belong together Regina. She loves you and you love her, both of you need to stop making this so complicated and get together already!"

Ruby watched as a flame flickered in Regina's eyes like a fireball and it seemed like new life had suddenly filled the woman. Regina sat up straight and squared her shoulders. "You're right Ruby. If she thinks she can just run away from us then I'm just going to have to catch her." Her plump lips pulled into a playful smirk and Ruby felt relief over her friend's new resolve to fight for her love. "Oh, I've been meaning to ask you something Ruby." Ruby raised an eyebrow from curiosity as she awaited the question.

"What is it?"

Regina's smile spread wide across her face. "How would you like to be mayor of Storybrooke?"

Robert Gold was finally ready to exact his revenge. It had taken him months to elude the authorities until he felt relatively safe. He had called in all his favors from associates and was able to secure some cash and a weapon. He sat in the motel room on the outskirts of Boston, feeling his rage threatening to burst through his chest. His fortune was gone, his reputation was ruined, all of his criminal contacts avoided him like the plague. And worst of all, his son was dead.

It was all their fault. All three of them had each helped to destroy him. Now it was time to pay them back. Soon Robert Gold would get his revenge on Cora, Regina, and Emma.