A/N: I'm sorry, I know you all hate the cliff hangers and yes I know it's a cheap writing trick to keep you reading … but I just love reading your reviews of frustration! And, come on, you know I always deliver.

April 17th 2004

The bell rang at last, signalling the end of what felt like the longest hour of Emma's life. She hated English class. Writing was just not her forte, especially creative writing. Stuffing the half-completed story into her satchel, she swung her bag over her shoulder and headed out of the noisy classroom. It was the end of the day and she could at last leave school and return home where it was quiet and calm. Perhaps then she might be able to complete her attempt at the assignment.

The hallway was busy. She walked as close to the wall as she could, shoulder brushing the pale paint, desperately trying to avoid touching anyone else. Eventually, she got to her locker. Twirling the combination lock, she opened it and began pulling out the books she knew she'd need for her homework that night. Emma always did her homework the night she got it. That way, she was never behind and she never forgot. She was probably the most diligent seventeen-year-old at the school.

As she was loading her bag, the strap was suddenly tugged from her shoulder.

"Hey!" she spun around, the leather slipping away from her before she could snatch it back.

"What did you write about, Psycho Swan?" jeered the teenager holding her satchel, her two best friends flanking her on either side, smirking in anticipation.

Emma dropped her gaze, trying to avoid confrontation. If she ignored them, they always got bored in the end and left her alone.

But not yet; they had to have their 'fun' first. "Write a story about a character who is struggling to find their place in the world," the bully recited. "Did you just write your own life story? Abandoned little swan with no parents to love her? If you're trying to find your place in the world, it's not here. You don't belong in Storybrooke, Swan. Move back to New York."

Emma said nothing. It had been eight months since she had arrived in Maine and still she was the outsider. Not that she wanted to be part of this particular friendship gang but her position as their target had made Emma a social pariah. She found it hard enough to make friends at the best of times. This bulling didn't help. No one wanted to be friends with the person who was taunted and teased daily by the meanest girls in school. She stared at her shoes, waiting for the trio to move on.

"You're just an unloved ugly duckling," one of the other girls taunted.

"Actually, baby swans are called cygnets."

It was a reflex; correcting a factual mistake. Emma kicked herself internally as she found herself looking defiantly into three smirking faces. They had got what they wanted. They had succeeded in making her engage.

"Ooh, a cygnet," they sneered in unison.

"What are you, a geeky bird watcher?" the leader laughed.

"Bird watchers are called ornithologists and no, I'm not. I just know things." Again, Emma cursed herself for engaging. She couldn't help it; the compulsion was too strong.

"Geek."

"Loser."

"Freak."

Emma's gaze returned to her shoes, teeth biting the inside of her cheek as she forced herself not to cry. It wasn't the names. She was used to them by now. It was the never-ending feeling of being alone. The contents of her satchel came into view as the bullies turned her bag upside down and everything tumbled to the floor. Laughing, the girls walked away, leaving Emma to gather her belongings.

She did so, hurrying to pick everything up before walking then running out of the school, out of the grounds and down the street. She didn't stop running until she reached her bedroom. Slamming the door, she threw herself down on the bed and sobbed into her pillow.

"Emma," Regina said again. "Um, hello."

The blonde said nothing. She just stood, gaping at the woman she hadn't seen in almost fourteen years. As she stared, the olive cheeks tinged pink and Regina shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, as if waiting for Emma to say something. But she didn't. There was a long silence, stretching for what seemed like hours. Then, without a word, Emma spun on her heels and walked away.

"Mom, who was that?" Henry asked, looking up curiously to his mother who was watching the blonde stride from the room.

"Um, someone I knew a long time ago," Regina said eventually after Emma had turned into the corner and disappeared from view.

"Is she your friend?"

"Not really," Regina admitted, stomach rolling at the memories which swept over her. She flopped back against the couch and closed her eyes.

What were the chances? Of all the people in the world to be in charge of the women's shelter, why did it have to be Emma Swan? Swan … Swan's Shelter. Regina groaned quietly. Not that she would ever have made the connection between the name and the gangly, awkward blonde she had known what felt like a lifetime ago. There was nothing gangly about Emma now. The awkwardness, perhaps, remained.

"Mom, can we go to the zoo today?" Henry asked, already having moved on from the strange, almost wordless interaction he had just witnessed.

"Maybe. I have a few things to do here first though. Do you want to go and play on your iPad in our room for a bit?"

"Yeah!" Henry enthused. Any excuse to get some more screen time and the six-year-old was always up for it.

Regina got to her feet and she and Henry left the communal area, her half drunk coffee poured down the sink as they passed the kitchenette. The brunette was agitated, her heart pounding. She had felt safe here. From the moment she walked through the door she had felt safe. It was a feeling she valued greatly. Emma's appearance hadn't made her feel unsafe by any means, but it had set her on edge, throwing up abundant memories she fought to keep locked away and didn't have the emotional energy to deal with. And yet, it seemed, fate had other plans.

With Henry settled happily on his bed, Regina promised him she'd be back soon and told him to not leave the room until she got back. The boy nodded once, already engrossed in a game, before Regina went in search of the woman who had disappeared without a word.

"Ems, can you help me with this section about -"

The door to Emma's office slammed before Ella had even asked her question. The counsellor frowned at the action but didn't move to follow. She knew sometimes her boss needed space to work through emotions. It was rare, however, for such an event to happen at work. With a curious glance at the door, she turned back to the paperwork she was struggling with and continued without assistance.

On the other side of the door, Emma was pacing up and down, hands balled into fists. One, two, three, four, five, pause. One, two, three, four, five, pause. One, two, three, four, five, pause. One, two, three, four, five, pause. One, two, three, four, five, pause. Fingernails dug into her skin. Four crescent shapes growing deeper and deeper on each palm as her fists tightened.

Of all the women. Of all the women to walk into her shelter. Emma spun on the spot and walked back the other way. Why her? Why did she have to be here? She turned and continued walking. It had been fourteen years. Fourteen years since they had seen each other. Turn and walk. Sure, Emma had thought about Regina in that time. She'd even dreamed about her. Turn and walk. Dreams were uncontrollable. Her mind did strange things when she was asleep. Turn and walk. But Regina wasn't part of her life. They hadn't seen each other since high school graduation. Turn and walk. Regina had been the valedictorian. Her speech had mentioned hope for the future, kindness to others. Emma barked out a laugh. Turn and walk.

Her palms tightened. The indentations deepened. What was she doing here? Stupid question; Emma knew what she was doing here. But why here? Why Swan's Shelter? Why New York? Hadn't Regina stayed in Maine? Ruby said they had come from there. Why had Regina come to New York? Was it because –

A knock at the door stopped Emma in her tracks. One, two, three, four, five, pause. One, two, three, four, five, pause.

"Come in," she called.

Ella's head appeared. "Um, are you ok?"

Emma didn't answer. The blonde wasn't good at lying but she also knew that what she was dealing with had nothing to do with her professional position. "What do you want?"

"There's a woman, Regina, to see you. She said she's new here, checked in last night with Ruby. You said you were going to talk to her, right?"

One, two, three, four, five, pause. One, two, three, four, five, pause. This isn't about the past, Emma told herself. Regina is a victim. Regina in at the shelter for a reason. Put aside your history and do your job. "Take her to the mediation room. I'll be there in a few minutes."

Ella nodded and disappeared. As soon as the door was closed, Emma sank into the chair behind her desk and closed her eyes. Breathe, she told herself. Just breathe. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Do your job. Do what you're good at. The history, the memories, they don't matter. She was young. You were young. Yes, it hurt. It all hurt. Everything which happened between you two caused you pain. But it's in the past. You were children. You're both adults now and she needs your help, your support. Now she's the one in pain. Don't hold your history against her; she's not the same person she was back then, just in the way that you're not the same person.

A final deep breath and Emma stood up. She could do this, she was a professional.

"Are you ok to stay on the desk for a while longer?" Emma asked as she appeared beside Ella. "Belle is in at midday today if you need help with that paperwork you asked about."

Belle, their psychologist, had undergone more training than the counsellors but worked at two centres and was only at Swan's Shelter part time. Emma, Ella, Ruby and their other team members Mulan and Ursula were the primary point of contact for everyone in the shelter on a day to day basis.

"Yeah, fine," the woman said, looking curiously into the face of the woman now rifling through the filing cabinet to get the intake forms Ruby would have completed the night before. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"No," Emma replied bluntly.

Before Ella could ask another question, Emma had found what she was looking for. With Regina's file in one hand and a pen in the other, she walked from behind the desk towards the closed meeting room door. Ella watched as her boss paused for a moment, hand on the handle, before pushing it open and disappearing from view.

This must be the mediation room which Ruby mentioned, Regina mused as she took a seat and crossed her legs, waiting. She hadn't thought she'd need to ever enter this room. She certainly didn't think she'd be sat here across from her husband. The person she was waiting for, however, was even more unlikely. Emma Swan. She hadn't seen the blonde since graduation day. Well, graduation night. She had barely thought of her classmate since then. Ok, that wasn't strictly true but she always steered herself away whenever she found her mind wandering in that direction. Her thoughts were embarrassing, shameful.

Her stomach twisted again. She owed this woman an apology. So many apologies. The word 'sorry' wasn't going to be enough, not for what she had done. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat at the memory. Looking back on her teenage self, Regina felt a wave of guilt. She was ashamed of many of the memories which took place in Storybrooke High and much of that shame revolved around Emma.

The woman was about to appear, she knew that. Emma Swan was about to enter the room. Suddenly, Regina jumped to her feet. She wasn't ready. She couldn't do this. She wasn't … The door opened. Green eyes met brown once more. There was a long silence and then Emma stepped inside and closed the door.

"Emma," Regina said as the blonde turned to face her once more. "I … I'm sorry."

The woman said nothing. She simply walked to the chair on the far side of the table to Regina and sat down. After a moment's hesitation, Regina sank back down into hers.

"So," Emma said, opening the thin file which she had been carrying, "you need somewhere safe to stay."

"Yes, I … Emma, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, I heard you the first time," Emma said shortly. "Ruby says you have a son. He's here with you. Are there any other children?"

Regina wanted to protest, to direct the conversation back to the elephant in the room but after opening her mouth to say as much, she stopped herself. "Yes, Henry's here. He's my only son."

"Ok, and you came from Maine, correct?"

"Yes," Regina nodded. "Storybrooke. You know where I live."

Emma ignored the reference to their past. "May I ask you a little about why you need a place like our shelter? You don't have to tell me anything you're not comfortable with so you don't have to answer the question if you don't want to."

I'm not comfortable with any of this, Regina thought to herself. This conversation would have been difficult to have with anyone but Emma Swan may be one of the worst people she could have imagined sitting opposite her.

"Emma, can we just talk about this for a moment?"

"That's why I'm here," Emma replied. "This is a safe space."

Regina's brow furrowed. It was as if the woman was completely blocking out their pre-existing relationship, focusing only on her professional role, pretending they had never met before.

"No, I don't mean that," Regina pressed. "I mean us."

Emma visibly swallowed. "There is no us, Regina."

"I mean our past. High school. I … I'm sorry." Every time she said them, the words sounded more pathetic, but she didn't know what else she could say.

"Yeah, you said," Emma replied shortly. "We're not here to talk about that though. We're here to talk about you."

"I know but … Emma, I can't just pretend like I don't know you."

"Ok," Emma replied. "You know me."

"Yes, I do. And you know me."

"Right, so, we know each other. Would you prefer a different counsellor? I can ask Ella to take over if you're not comfortable with me doing this."

"I … are you comfortable with this?" Regina asked.

Emma cocked her head. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Regina rolled her eyes. "Um, because of our history."

"Our history has nothing to do with my job nor your presence here. I am a counsellor. This is my women's shelter. You are a woman in need of a safe place and someone to help you. I can provide both of those things."

"Do you even want to?"

Emma frowned at that. "Of course I do. We offer shelter to anyone who walks through our doors who needs a safe place."

"Even me?"

"Yes."

"Even after what I did?"

Emma leaned back in her chair and took a slow, steadying breath. One, two, three, four, five, pause. One, two, three, four, five, pause. It seemed Regina was intent on talking about this now. Emma struggled to balance her professional persona with her crumbling inner self. She couldn't do this, not now. It was too much. She wasn't prepared. She wasn't strong enough. The compartmentalisation was shattering; emotions and memories spilling from that carefully crafted box.

"Regina, it was a long time ago. Can we forget it?"

"No, I don't think we can," Regina replied. "I know I haven't forgotten and from the way you looked at me earlier, you haven't either. Please, can we talk about this? At least let me apologise."

One, two, three, four, five, pause. One, two, three, four, five, pause. One, two, three, four, five, pause. One, two, three, four, five, pause. It wasn't working. She couldn't calm her heartbeat. She couldn't stop herself.

"For what?" Emma all but screamed, suddenly jumping to her feet. Regina's eyes widened at the sight and she sat, frozen in her chair as Emma continued. "For bullying me for two years? For making high school a living hell? For making sure I had no friends? For teasing me and making me feel worthless and broken and damaged and unlovable? Or for taking the piss out of me for being autistic? Or for being gay? Or for being a foster kid? Or for tricking me into thinking that actually, perhaps, I was worth your time and then tearing me apart when I was at my most vulnerable? Take your pick, Regina. What do you want to apologise for first?"

But Regina didn't get the opportunity to even begin expressing how sorry she was because Emma stormed out of the room, the door banging off the wall and leaving Regina gaping after her. Ella's gaze snapped up from the paperwork as her boss reappeared with a bang, watched as she strode, red-faced, up to the desk and demanded her handbag. As soon as Ella had handed it over, the blonde spun on her heels and walked out of the shelter, the heavy front door swinging closed behind her.

"What the fuck?" Ella said slowly, shifting her gaze from the front door into the meeting room where Regina still sat. As she watched, the brunette buried her face in her hands.

Hurrying out from behind the desk, she approached the woman with caution. Her instinct was to comfort her but their training told them not to initiate physical contact with any of the women or children who arrived at the shelter. They didn't know their history and many of them had suffered physical abuse. So instead she sat in Emma's vacant seat and asked if the sobbing woman was ok.

"No, I'm not," Regina blubbered, words muffled into her hands.

"What just happened?" Ella asked. "I've never seen Emma act like that. Why was she shouting at you?"

"It's not Emma's fault," Regina said at once, raising her tear stained face to look at Ella. "I know her. Knew her, I suppose. We went to high school together."

"Ok," Ella said slowly, not any the wiser.

"We weren't friends," Regina clarified. "In fact … I was worse than not friendly."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh. Is Emma ok?"

"Doesn't look like it," she replied. "But she will be. She probably just needed some space, time. She'll come back when she's ready. You know Emma. She works through things differently to other people."

"Yes, I know," Regina said, guilt stabbing her stomach as she remembered another memory from high school.

September 1st 2003

"I can't believe we're finally in our junior year," Regina said as she climbed out of her mother's car, followed by her two best friends, and stood looking up at the large high school entrance before her.

"We've still got two years in this stupid place though," Zelena grumbled beside her, fingers already preening her wild red hair.

"This place isn't stupid, you are," Regina teased, knocking her shoulder against the girl's who narrowed her eyes before linking arms with her friend and ignoring the insult. Everyone knew Zelena's academic capacity was limited.

"Senior year will be even better," Vicky pointed out. "As soon as one of us is eighteen, we'll be able to drive ourselves and not have your mom in the car with us."

Regina turned and waved at her mother who was walking around the front of the car and sliding into the driver's seat Regina had just vacated. Her mother blew her a kiss before reversing out of the space and driving out of the parking lot. Ever since Regina received her provisional license, her mother had agreed to let her practice driving to and from school each day, the woman herself sat in the passenger seat as the law required and her best friends in the back row, gossiping away as usual.

"Yeah, we'll be free to go wherever we want and get out of this crappy town," Regina grinned. "But I guess we should get through junior year first. Come on, let's go and find out our timetables."

The trio set off, arm in arm, up the wide sweeping steps which led to the main building. A few students greeted them but most just stayed out of their way. Everyone knew Regina Mills and her entourage ruled the school. For the most part, this was accepted and barely affected most of the students. Keeping your head down was one of the best ways to make sure you didn't become one of the unfortunate individuals which her position did affect.

"Hey Regina."

The teen turned at the sound of her name. "Robin. Hey."

"How was your summer?" the tall boy asked, sandy hair flopping over his eyes as he leaned against the trunk of a large tree, hands stuffed deep in his jeans pockets.

"Good thanks, how was yours?"

"It was sweet. I missed you though. We should get together some time."

"Maybe. I'll see you around, Robin." Shooting the captain of the football team a coy smile, Regina returned to walking into the school.

"Omg he's so into you," Zelena whispered as Vicky giggled. "Are you finally going to agree to go out with him this year?"

"Maybe," Regina replied. "Maybe not."

"Tease," Vicky said. "If someone that hot was interested in me, I'd jump his bones."

"Vic, you jump everyone's bones," Regina pointed out. "Aside from Robin, is there anyone in our year you haven't 'jumped' already?"

Vicky was about to answer when she collided with another student who had just emerged from the classroom they were about to enter.

"Hey, watch it," Regina snarled at the mane of blonde hair who had stooped to pick up the piece of paper she had dropped.

"Sorry," the blonde muttered as she got to her feet.

"You're new, aren't you?" Regina said, taking in the striking green eyes and high cheekbones. Something fluttered deep inside her as the blonde teen drew her bottom lip between her teeth.

"I'm new to Maine but not new to the planet. I'm sixteen years old and I will be seventeen years old in fifty-two days."

"What?" Vicky laughed. "You're weird."

"No, I'm not," the blonde retorted.

Vicky bristled and narrowed her eyes. "You're definitely new if you're talking back to us. Don't you know who we are?"

"No, I don't. Who are you?"

"Who are you?" Regina shot back.

"I asked first."

This time, it was Regina's eyes who narrowed. "Fine. I'm Regina Mills. This is Zelena West and Vicky Cruella. So, I'll ask again, who are you?"

"Cruella as in one hundred and one Dalmatians?"

"Yes, and I'll skin you myself if you don't answer our question."

"How will you skin me?"

Vicky's eyebrows shot comically up her forehead. Before she could answer, Regina spoke. "What's your name, you freak?"

"I'm not a freak. My name is Emma Swan."

"Emma Swan? Like the bird?"

"Yes," Emma replied. "Like the bird. Swans live on water and they can also fly. The Trumpeter Swan is one of the biggest flying birds in the world. Trumpeter Swans live in North America and they are the heaviest bird we have. Their wingspan can be up to three metres. I saw lots of Trumpeter Swans last summer when I went to Yellowstone National Park with my foster parents."

Three slack-jawed faces stared at the outpouring of information they had just received. It took their leader a moment to react. "Well, fly away, Swan. You're in our way," Regina sneered eventually.

"I can't fly. I'm a person with the surname Swan but I don't have wings like a swan."

"Just move," Regina growled, fed up with the blonde's pedantic attitude already. Seriously, who talked like that?

Emma stepped obediently aside and allowed Regina and her two friends to sweep into the classroom she had just vacated. She watched them walk up to the board where their timetables were displayed before returning her attention to the map she had collected of the school and began to find her way towards her assigned homeroom.

A/N: the flashbacks will continue but they'll always be formatted like this (date and all). You're 100% entitled to hate teenage Regina but don't judge adult Regina just yet, ok?