Author's note: I know it's been a long time but over the past day I went on a writing spree and got a lot done.

Chapter 37

The last Saturday of each month had been long dubbed "girls' day out", consisting of a marathon shopping session followed by mani/pedis at the day spa that also served as the salon, and lunch at Storybrooke's fanciest restaurant at the docks.

Regina held the door of their favorite boutique, The Ruby Slipper, open for Emma before entering. "So what time do you have to meet this Killian today?"

Emma groaned. "Four. And thanks for reminding me about that pain in the ass."

"Language." Regina admonished, before her tone softened. "He couldn't do it another day?"

"Nope. I swear, he lives to make my life miserable." Emma sighed heavily before turning her attention to a table that practically groaned under the weight of the carefully stacked sweaters in a rainbow's worth of colors. She held a black one up and examined it.

"That's a tad dramatic." Regina commented, picking up a navy one. "What about this one?"

Emma frowned. "I like black." But she took the navy sweater from her mother's hands anyway. "Stupid group project."

"Just think of it as practice for the future. We can do lunch another day."

"Practice dealing with annoying jerks?" Emma joked.

But Regina nodded seriously. "That's what I do every day, yes. Although as mayor, I tend to win." She then pointed at a gold necklace hanging on a rack by the register. "That owl pendant would look amazing against the sweater, especially with your hair."

Emma crossed the room to examine the necklace. "It is kind of pretty."

"Try it on." Regina urged.

"Ok. Why not, right?" Emma shrugged, and then turned towards a rack of jeans. "Hmm. I've been looking for gray jeans."

"I'll meet you in the fitting room." Regina called as she headed to a rack of pencil skirts and blazers.

Emma rolled her eyes. Typical Mom. She started to sift through the jeans, wrinkling her nose at a pair that had way too many holes, and then a pair that was downright ugly. Finally, she came across a gray pair that looked cute; finding her size, and started to pull them from the rack, only to be met with resistance.

"What the-"She yanked harder, but that did nothing to loosen the jeans. "Hey! These are taken."

"I saw them first." A familiar voice said from the other side of the rack.

Emma was reminded instantly of tequila and orange juice, and she stepped to the side. "Lily?"

Lily broke out into a wide smile. "Emma! What are you doing here?"

"Shopping. What else?"

"Same here. Who are you here with?"

Emma indicated to the other side of the store. "My mom. What about you?"

"I'm, uh, I'm here alone." Lily said, shifting on the spot as she spoke.

"Oh." Emma responded, her face growing hot. She remembered what Jasmine had said about Lily being a foster kid. "That's cool."

"Yup." Lily fingered the side of the jeans that Emma had found ugly.

Emma stared down at the clothes she'd piled in her arms, and then at Lily's empty hands. She suddenly felt uncomfortable, training her eyes on the purple painted walls. If this had been Jasmine that she'd run into, she would've invited her to come along without hesitation. She should invite Lily. But for some reason she couldn't.

Or maybe she didn't want to.

Lily spoke up after a moment. "Hey, listen. Want to hang out or something?"

"Um…I'm kind of here with my mom."

"Just tell her you have a school project or something." Suddenly Lily's eyes were bright. "I'm sure your mom will understand if you have to cut your day short."

Ironically Emma did have a school project that interrupted their "girls' day". "Well…"

"Come on!" Lily urged. "Remember how much fun we had last weekend? I can show you stuff that's way cooler than this." She waved her hand dismissively at the store around them.

"Like what?" Emma asked dubiously.

"Like," She picked up a teal clutch from the table behind them, and, after casting a long look around, casually stuffed it inside her oversized hoodie and zipped it up.

Emma just gaped at her. "Lily!"

Lily shrugged. "It's all overpriced, anyways."

"But, but…" Emma protested, although she knew that Lily was right.

"It gives you such a rush." Lily said. "And don't worry, you won't get caught. I've been doing it for ages and nothing's ever happened." She grabbed Emma's arm. "Let's go."

Emma stood rooted to the spot, staring at the lump beneath Lily's hoodie. "I-I don't think so." She cleared her throat. "I can't." She looked back at Regina. "I promised my mom."

Disappointment flickered in Lily's eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it came. "Alright, that's fine then. What about tomorrow? We can do something else, if you want."

"I can't do that either." Emma said quickly. She wondered briefly why; hanging out with Lily had proven to be a good time once, and surely it'd be amazing again. But the idea of spending more time with Lily sent fear rushing through her. She couldn't be friends with Lily. Never mind how awesome she was. A brief memory of Lily holding her hair and rubbing her back as she hovered over a toilet flashed before her mind. She'd been a good friend that night, and something told Emma Lily was a good person.

But she couldn't be friends with someone like Lily. She just couldn't.

"I get it." Lily responded. "You don't want to be seen with me."

"That's not-"

"It's ok. I've dealt with many people like you, cowering from the foster kid. It's all good."

Emma opened her mouth to protest, to tell her that in another life she would've been just like Lily too. But the words were stuck, and nothing came out.

Lily reached into her pocket for a slip of paper and scribbled something down, shoving it into Emma's hand. "You'll change your mind, I just know it." And then she slunk away, disappearing out the door, her dark ponytail bobbing in the air.

"Emma?" Regina's voice floated over to her. "Are you ready?"

She looked down at the paper in her hand. Lily had written down her number in messy black Sharpie. "Coming, Mom."

She crumpled it up in her hand; she wouldn't be needing that.

Emma watched as her mother listlessly pushed her salad around her plate. Instead of mani/pedis and lunch at the docks as they'd planned, they had to cut the day short and settled for eating at Granny's.

"Mom? Are you ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Regina replied rather robotically. "I'm not very hungry, that's all."

Emma frowned. "You haven't been hungry for days now. Are you sick? You wanna go home?"

Regina opened her mouth to answer, but just then the door jingled open and a tall man walked in, holding the hand of a little boy. She snapped her mouth closed as Granny greeted Robin and bent down to smile at Roland.

"Mom."

"Hmm?"

"Are you sick?" Emma repeated.

Regina kept her eyes down and trained on her untouched salad as Robin approached on his way to a table in the back. "Mmm…"

It didn't take a genius to figure out why Regina was acting so weird. Suddenly, a stab of guilt pierced her heart as her foot nudged against the bags of clothes under the table. As usual, Regina had caved when Emma asked for much more than they'd originally planned to buy. As usual, Regina had given Emma what she'd wanted.

Not because Emma really needed those dresses, no matter how cute they were. Because she knew her mother would do anything, had always done everything, to make her happy.

The least Emma could do was reciprocate a little. "Do you want to go say hi to him or something?"

"Who?"

"Robin. He's sitting over there." Emma pointed over her shoulder. "I know you miss him." She added.

"Oh, no honey, that's all right."

"Seriously." Emma found herself insisting. "I'll be fine."

Her mother turned around and cast a glance at him; Robin was perusing the menu while Roland scribbled on the kids' activity page with a crayon. "I don't know…" She bit her lip.

"Oh my gosh. Just. Go."

"Well," Regina started. "all right then."

"Mom?"

Regina paused and turned around. "Yes?"

"If you want to um, I don't know, invite him over for dinner or something, I guess it wouldn't suck that much."

Regina's expression rapidly grew to one of elation, though she quickly rearranged it into a more placid one. "Are you sure?"

Emma nodded before she could say otherwise. She watched as her mother smoothed down her skirt before walking over to Robin's table. Saw his face light up, her shoulders relaxing as they spoke. Watched as Roland beamed at her mother, as Regina reached out to ruffle his hair.

Was she doing the right thing, allowing these people into the perfect life she and her mother had? She still vaguely remembered her first family giving her back as soon as they found out they were going to have their own kid. But as she watched her mother laugh for the first time in days, she decided that it was worth the risk.

Later that day, Emma quietly rummaged through her mother's desk drawer in search of the stack of bills Regina kept hidden. Of course, it was "emergencies only", and Emma technically wasn't supposed to know it was there, but that didn't stop her from deftly peeling off three twenties and sticking them into her back pocket. She'd been taking money from there on and off for a year now, and Regina had never found out.

(Later Emma would learn that, like most things, Regina secretly knew and had actually been replacing the money there from time to time to maintain the illusion that the money was Emma's secret).

She closed the drawer quietly, although there was no use because her mother was in the shower, and was about to leave when she noticed that her jeans had been snagged on the bottom drawer, a stray thread caught. Huffing with annoyance, she dropped to her knees and opened the drawer to free herself.

Emma twirled the loose thread around a finger as she rifled through the drawer out of sheer curiosity. She already knew that her file sat there, but what else did Regina keep inside? More money? Or perhaps a diamond ring from a secret lover? Although wouldn't it be more logical to store something so valuable in a jewelry box, perhaps?

Running her hands along the bottom, she felt nothing but paper. Folders, probably. She angled the stack of papers up to look underneath, and that's when she felt the entire bottom of the drawer come up like a seesaw.

A false bottom? Emma was intrigued. There had to be something cool down there. She cast a quick look to the empty hall, where all she could hear was the shower running, and lifted up what she'd thought was the bottom of the drawer completely.

Looking eagerly inside, Emma was disappointed to find that there was nothing save for an old book and a couple dust bunnies. Who hid a book? She reached in and grabbed it, kicking the drawer closed with a foot.

"Once Upon a Time" was written in gold ink, and when she slowly flipped through the pages she found nothing but beautifully detailed drawings and ornate writing. A kids' book? Why would her mom hide something so stupid?

Shrugging, she slipped the book into her backpack before turning off the office light. If anything, this book might come in useful for her school project with Killian (ugh!).

Author's note: Well, Emma has found the book. Whatever will happen next?!