A/N: Hello again! I know I say it every time, but thanks so much for following/favouriting/reviewing this story, it's really appreciated :)

Enjoy!

I could say I'm sorry

But I don't wanna lie

I just wanna know if staying

Is better than goodbye

- The Common Linnets, Calm After The Storm

Being out in the fresh air seemed to have done Regina the world of good, and when they returned she slept soundly well into the afternoon and evening. Emma herself was exhausted, but she decided to take the opportunity to call her mother and catch up with her.

"How's the baby?"

"He's really good, so well behaved. Well, most of the time. Charming will hardly leave his side for a second, and I have to say it's a relief having Henry here to spend time with too. I'd be going out of my mind."

"So you're ok with him there then? If it gets too much for you, tell me."

"Emma, relax. We're great. Everything's fine, we just miss you is all." Emma could hear her mother tearing up.

"I'm just down the street!"

"I know, but it's not the same. This is a lovely thing you're doing, Emma. Gods know she wouldn't do the same if she was in your position."

"You don't think?"

"I don't think anyone would, Emma. You've taken on so much."

Emma considered this point for a while after her mother reluctantly ended the conversation. It had never crossed her mind to do anything other than care for Regina. The woman was living alone, in a strange town, with no idea who anyone was. She couldn't sleep, she could barely walk; what was Emma supposed to do? In hindsight, she knew that Regina hadn't been her responsibility, but she was now. And she always would be.

"You look deep in thought. Don't strain yourself." Emma heard a voice from behind her, and immediately jumped up to help Regina sit down. "Stop fussing Emma."

"Less of the sarcasm, I don't have to be here you know, I'm doing it out of the goodness of my heart."

"I know dear, and I'm grateful. More than you realise." Regina eased herself onto the sofa and lifted the corners of her mouth ever so slightly. For the first time, Emma noticed a book in Regina's clasped shut hand.

"What's that?"

"A scrapbook. It was in the dresser. I thought.. maybe we could look at it? You could shed some light for me."

"Sounds good, let me get you a drink and then we'll get started."

When Emma returned, she sat down on the sofa next to Regina, a few inches between them, and Regina opened the front cover of the album so it was resting on Emma's lap. The first page was, predictably, a Mirror newspaper clipping of Regina being elected mayor. Emma was a little surprised; she'd always assumed Regina was automatically Mayor given the curse, but began to read the article.

"A landslide." Regina noted to herself, taking the time to read the article word for word. As they continued to turn the pages, Emma noticed that pre-Henry, the album contained no personal photos, just professionally-taken ones accompanying articles. The first truly personal photo hit Emma like a knife in the gut.

"Henry." The boy was no more than a newborn baby, asleep in Regina's arms as she sat, asleep herself, at the desk in her study. Graham must have taken this, Emma thought to herself.

The photos of Henry continued rapidly, documenting every major event in his life; birthdays, school plays, on the beach in summer. There was a noticeable gap of Henry's early teen years, however, which didn't go un-noticed by Regina.

"You guys had a rough time for a while there. Around when I showed up." Emma was overcome with guilt, knowing that this would lead Regina to blame her.

"That can't have been easy for you."

"I think it was worse for you, Regina." Emma was struck again by the woman's humility, and how, with her guard down, she could be so caring towards others. "He had some problems accepting the two of us in his life together. But it got better, and I know that he loves you more than anything now." Emma thought this was as close to the truth as she could offer, and it seemed to satisfy Regina.

The photos picked up again after Henry was rescued from Neverland, and this time they included more than just Regina and Henry. Emma herself was in some, along with her parents, and the whole town in a few. Soon, they reached the final page, and Emma spluttered at the site.

"Yeah, that about sums us up." The photo, Emma remembered, had been taken by Ruby in Granny's around 2 months earlier, and Emma and Henry were pulling faces at the camera, while Regina could be seen sneering at the woman from over her shoulder.

"I see you've always challenged me."

"Challenged seems like the right word." Emma snorts, and Regina takes a chance, deciding to lie her head on the blonde's shoulder.

"Thank you. That was nice. I feel like I'm starting to… get to know myself a bit better, maybe."

"No thanks necessary, I enjoyed it too. It's nice to be able to see Henry growing up." Emma sighed, leaning her head down a little to rest it lightly on top of Regina's.

"Was it difficult for you? Giving him up?" Regina winced at her own question.

"More than I realised it would be." Emma muttered into Regina's hair, "I was given up too, and it wasn't until after Henry was born I considered that he might have ended up with the same childhood I had. I wanted to give him his best chance, but the second he was gone I felt like I'd made the biggest mistake I ever could have done. My childhood wasn't the best, well, that's an understatement, and to think that Henry might have the same… I couldn't bear it. I was a coward." This was the first time Emma had admitted her thoughts from the months after she gave away Henry, even to herself. "I would cry myself to sleep, every single night. Close my eyes tight and beg God, or anyone, to bring him back to me, or to make sure that he was safe and happy. But now… I wouldn't go back. I'm glad I gave him up; you were able to raise him ten times better than I ever could have done. I was a messed up teenager; I had no home, no money, I was in prison for crying out loud."

Regina stayed silent.

"I don't think I ever thanked you. I know you wouldn't have remembered, even if I had, but thank you. You gave him everything I could have ever wished on him. You gave him a home, and support, and you always had love for him, even when it was difficult for him to love you back. And now… he's the luckiest boy in the world, having two parents that love him so much. Some people are lucky to even have one."

"I'm sure he is." Regina sighed weakly, "I'm going to go to bed, if that's ok with you. I don't need any help, before you get up."

"Sure. I'll be up in a little bit."

"Thank you, again."

"Stop thanking me, I said I wanted that too."

"You know what I'm thanking you for." Regina looked at the woman sincerely.

"You're welcome for that too." Emma didn't admit that she, at this point, probably needed these talks with Regina almost as much as Regina needed them. To an extent, she felt like Regina could already tell.

"Goodnight, Emma."

"Night."

Emma stayed on the sofa for a while longer, poring again over the photos of Regina in the scrapbook. Every stern smile, every look of love, every exasperated stare. She wanted to stay up all night looking at these photos, trying to see the woman underneath. Was it the same woman upstairs? Or was it someone else entirely?

Too tired to see straight, Emma reluctantly gathered herself and headed heavily upstairs to Regina's bedroom, where the woman's face was tensed up, along with her fists. Knowing she was in the midst of yet another nightmare, she got into bed next to her, and began to stroke her hair, until Regina jolted awake.

"Leave me alone." Emma was stung by her words. "S.. Sorry. It was you again, in the dream. I feel like there's two of you, and I… don't like the other side of you that comes out when I'm asleep."

"It's not me, Regina."

"How am I supposed to know that?! You're a complete stranger, infringing on my life, lying in my bed. I've got no idea who you are!" Regina raised her voice, and Emma couldn't believe the words coming out of them. After all she'd done for her, all she'd trusted her with, she couldn't trust Emma still. She knew it was the dreams, but it was the element of truth in them from when the curse broke that made Emma reluctant to defend herself.

"You know me, or at least everything that's worth knowing. My name's Emma Swan. I grew up in foster care, and I have a son called Henry. I live in Storybrooke, Maine, and I own a yellow bug, I love trashy tv, and… I sing in the shower"

"All of this is irrelevant. You could be any number of those things, and still be conspiring against me. Whether or not a person sings in the shower doesn't dictate how trustworthy they are!" Regina's eyes looked dead, but still simultaneously bore a hole in Emma's soul.

"Stay calm, Regina. Dr Whale didn't want you getting riled up."

"I'll do what I please!" Regina continued to shout, and a glass went flying across the room, shattering against the wall, and eliciting a gasp from her. "What did I do? How did that happen?"

"You didn't do anything. It fell." Emma reassured, knowing that Regina minus memories, but plus magic, was a very bad development.

"Glasses don't just fall across the room."

"Well, that one did." Emma's argument was sounding more flimsy by the second.

"Just leave me alone, Emma. Please." Regina was defeated by her dreams once again, and once again Emma felt hopeless to stop it.

Emma coughed. "Yeah, sure. I'll sleep in the guest room." She got up with purpose, too scared to admit that she didn't think she'd be able to leave Regina alone. Changing her mind, she lay down on the bare floor, curling up in the foetal position just a few feet from her place on the bed. Regina was too weak to argue, and Emma too afraid to leave, and the two women fell asleep in angry silence.

A/N: Please review if you have time!