It was warm that morning even with the lack of sun as it hid beyond the dark clouds in the sky. Regina arrived at the church just before nine alone after opting out of going along with the rest of her family in her sister's car. She had been up since before dawn, barely having slept at all, and she'd been on her fourth cup of coffee by the time her mother had come downstairs after having showered and had dressed herself in a simple black pantsuit with her hair pulled neatly back into a tight bun, an outfit far too similar to the outfit Regina had put on earlier.

They barely spoke. They barely even looked at one another. The only thing her mother did say to her that morning was nothing more than a reminder for her not to be late for the funeral.

The church parking lot was packed when she arrived and now she knew why her mother had given her that none-too-subtle reminder not to be late that morning. Still, she pulled into the lot and was stopped by a uniformed police officer, who waved at her to stop. She saw dozens of people arriving, many standing around the entrance to the church, and she saw her family standing by the open doors as they greeting the mourners who had come to say their final goodbyes to her father.

"Excuse me," the deputy asked as he rapped on her window with his knuckles. She rolled it down slowly and stared up at him. "Are you Regina Mills by any chance?"

"Yes, I am."

"Great," he said. "We have a few spots reserved for the family right over there," he said with a friendly smile and pointed to the empty spot beside her sister's lime green Charger. "You can pull in there," he said as he motioned to the spot again. "You're almost late, did you know that? The service is about to start shortly. You should hurry, Ms. Mills. Your family is waiting."

"Almost isn't late," she muttered under her breath as she drove away, making the tight turn into the spot beside her sister's car. "Idiot."

Regina sat there for a few minutes as she worked up the courage to get out of the car and join her family at the front of the church. She picked up her cell phone off the passenger seat and turned it off, choosing to leave it in the car along with her purse. She locked the car and put her keys into the inner pocket of her blazer. She barely recognized anyone there as she made her way along the path up to the church where her family was waiting. There were a lot of people there, many still arriving, and it warmed her heart and made it ache deeply just knowing that there were so many people who loved and cared about her father just as she did.

It was inevitable that she would have to see Emma Swan for the first time in a decade as soon as she walked into the church, knowing she was already inside because she didn't see her out there with her family. She wasn't ready to see Emma yet, though she knew from the moment she woke up early that moment that it was something she had to do regardless of whether she was ready to or not. When she left New York the day before, she didn't even think she'd have to see Emma, the thought that there was a shred of possibility that Emma was not only still in Storybrooke but still a part of her family never once crossed her mind.

Her nerves were making her bristle as she joined her family at the front door of the church. Zelena was sobbing, overly so, making quite a show as she dabbed at her eyes with a slightly soiled handkerchief. Her niece stood tall at Zelena's side, rubbing her back as Zelena continued to sob. Her mother stood on the other side of Zelena, their arms linked together, and she greeted people as they arrived with a sad smile. Yet, before Regina could step forward to actually give her mother a sincere hug, two women she didn't know came over and escorted Cora inside the church, which was when the tears only just then began to fall from her mother's eyes.

Regina stepped back as a group of mourners approached Zelena, offering their condolences while completely ignoring her. She couldn't blame them, of course, she'd been gone for a long time and it wasn't that surprising that people didn't recognize her after all that time. Her hair, which had always been long until her mid-twenties when she chopped it off, the longest coming just short of the bottom of her ears, was much different than what anyone in that town had seen before. She had kept her hair short that way for many years. She also hid behind big, dark sunglasses which would make her unrecognizable to just about anyone who did happen to remember her at all.

Regina looked around at the people still arriving at the church as they hustled to try and get inside before the service was due to start. She would've recognized him anywhere, Emma's son, now grown up and far taller than she had remembered him. He walked across the parking dressed in slacks and a white shirt. He was now only a few months shy of turning sixteen and though he looked so much like the boy she remembered, his hair was long and shaggy and there was a hint of stubble on his older face. Dark sunglasses hid his eyes and he was so different and older now.

Henry didn't even look at her and he walked straight up to Robyn and wrapped his long arms around her tightly. After a lengthily embrace, Henry slung an arm around Robyn's shoulders with a cocky half-smile and Robyn reached up playfully to ruffle his hair.

"Hey," Robyn laughed lightly and she pinched at his stubbly cheek. "I thought you were going to be late, Hen."

"Never," he replied, his voice deep. "Mom's already inside. Forgot my phone. Is Ali here yet?"

"Yeah, she just went inside with her dad."

"We should head in, yeah?"

They walked inside the church, Henry with his arm still slung over Robyn's shoulders. Regina felt frozen she watched them disappear inside the church together. Nothing could've prepared her for how it felt to look at Henry all grown up. It was a deeply emotional feeling and an odd one too. The only memories she had of him were of from when he was just a young child. To see him almost all grown up now, it was something she hadn't been prepared for. It made her dread how she would feel when she saw Emma for the first time.

It hurt that Henry hadn't even looked at her. She expected it, but it still hurt and that hurt ached so very deep. She wondered if he'd even seen her at all and tried to calm her nerves by trying to convince herself that maybe he just hadn't seen her. She deserved the cold shoulder from him, to be ignored because she deserved it.

Zelena waved over at her and turned to head into the church behind Henry and Robyn. She lifted her head with a sigh and focused on the sole little spot in the clouds above that had broken free for the first time that morning. Sunlight poured out for a brief second, illuminating a spot not far from the church's tall steeple. Regina followed, heading up the few steps and into the entrance of the church and she was instantly overwhelmed by the number of people inside.

The church, while not large, served as the only house of worship in town. Regina had never seen so many people inside there before and it was just so overwhelming to walk inside and see so many familiar faces and some new ones, too. Regina walked up the center aisle up to the front where her family was gathered in the two front pews.

Ahead of her, Zelena was greeting people as she walked by and Regina followed her, albeit a little hesitantly as she walked by a few familiar faces who looked at her with surprise in their eyes. Nobody greeted her, not directly, and she slipped off her sunglasses to watch the two women escorting her mother help her take a seat down in the front pew.

And that was when she saw her. Her. Emma Swan.

Emma was sitting beside her mother, her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, and she was actively engaged in a conversation with her son who sat beside her. Regina's breath hitched in her chest as Emma turned suddenly to look at Cora and Regina sawher for the first time in over a decade.

Emma, oh Emma was still as beautiful as she'd always been and she didn't look much different from what she remembered-or from the many dreams she had over the years. Emma had a sadness in her eyes as she reached out for Cora, offering a small smile before she turned back to her son and engaged in a quiet conversation with him. Gods, Emma looked good in the blank pantsuit she was wearing even if she pulled at the blazer jacket a little uncomfortably. Regina could barely catch her breath at the very sight of her and she smoothed a hand down the front of her blazer before she mustered up enough courage to take those final few steps toward her mother.

"Regina, I told you not to be late, dear."

"I am not late, Mother," she said quietly as her mother stood up and pulled her in for a tight hug. She hugged her back and placed a small kiss on her mother's cheek.

Her mother just responded to the small and loving gesture with a quiet sob before pulling her in for another tight hug. As she gave in and held her mother for a moment, she looked down at Emma and it caused an overwhelming surge of emotions to flood through her all at once. She was shaking as her mother stepped back and Emma rose up from the pew. It was the small smile laced with grief that Emma flashed at her that caused her to just fall into Emma's open arms as if they hadn't gone a day without seeing one another.

It was tense, at first, but it soon felt as if the last decade of tension and heartbreak just fell away as she melted into Emma's warm embrace. The tears she'd been holding back began to fall as she buried her face into Emma's neck, but it wasn't tears caused by grief and mourning the loss of her father. It was tears that fell so suddenly because she realized, at that moment, that Emma stilled smelled the same as she remembered. Like vanilla, lilacs, and a hint of soap. She even feltthe same, soft, warm. Just right. Regina trembled as Emma pulled back from their embrace and lifted a hand to wipe at her own tears as they rolled down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Regina. Your father truly was a wonderful man."

Regina lowered her head as her mother urged her to take a seat next to her on the edge of the pew. Her heart was still racing from that hug with Emma and her senses were just as overwhelmed now as her emotions were. She swallowed past the rising lump in her throat as the reverend came to the front of the church, efficiently quieting the mourners with just a simple raise of his hand as he approached the podium with a somber smile.

[X]

Regina sat in her hot car in the cemetery as she waited for those who had parked around her to leave. She felt so drained from the service and then the burial where they placed her father in the Mills' family mausoleum, and all she wanted to do was go home, curl up in bed, and mourn the loss of her father the only way she knew how. Alone.

Her patience was beginning to wear thin as she waited for the cars around her to move. Her mother and Zelena had already left and she was now wishing she had just gone with them in the first place. If she had, she wouldn't be sitting there stuck waiting in her hot car on the narrow gravel road with the sun now shining brightly down from the sky as the clouds rolled out.

Her phone buzzed on the passenger seat beside her for the dozenth time since the funeral had ended. She'd been avoiding her phone completely all morning as she knew there'd be messages from clients she'd canceled meetings with at the last minute. She wasn't one to do that, but she'd had no other choice as she had to be there to have her final goodbye and bury her father. She picked her phone up, about to check her messages, when she spotted Robyn and Henry amongst the few people left, walking through the cemetery on the grass, hand in hand.

Since that brief moment with Emma in the church, there hadn't been another. Emma had kept her distance once they'd all gathered around the mausoleum and around her father's casket. Even Henry hadn't acknowledged her, not even when they all arrived at the cemetery and it was still breaking her heart over and over again. Still, she couldn't blame him for the cold reception. She deserved nothing less, after all. Henry wasn't the only one who all but ignored her. It seemed like everyone else was doing the exact same thing, too.

Henry was so very sweet with Robyn and Regina could see that they both cared a great deal about each other very much. She had briefly met Ali, Robyn's girlfriend, when they were leaving the church. Ali was adorable and outgoing and she reminded Regina a lot of Emma when they'd first met. Though Ali had gone home with her father when the funeral had ended, Robyn had stayed behind with Henry and they walked and roamed about the cemetery together. She suspected the two were doing what she was unintentionally doing as well and they were avoiding going back to the house any sooner than they had to.

Zelena had made a point in announcing to everyone after the burial service that the wake would start in no less than an hour. Regina didn't want to be there for it, but just as she reasoned with herself earlier that morning, she was there for her father and he would want her to be at the wake with her family, no matter how hard it was for her to be around them right now.

"Finally," she muttered under her breath when the car that was blocking her exit began to drive off slowly ahead of her.

The drive down the winding gravel road through the cemetery further tested her patience as the cars ahead were driving slower than the posted speed limit. She tried to resist the urge to slam her foot down on the gas pedal as soon as she turned out onto the street and scowled as her phone began to ring for the umpteenth time in the last fifteen minutes she'd been sitting in her car.

Zelena. She sighed as she ignored the call and drove down the street, making sure to take the long way back to the house because she didn't want to spend any more time than she needed to there. Her luggage was already packed up, too, and all she needed to do was put it in her car before making the long drive back to New York City later. When her phone buzzed, she pulled over to read the texts that were coming in from her sister.

Where are you?
I need you to stop at the store, please.
Mother has requested a few bottles of rosé.
I forgot to go last night.
Regina? Stop ignoring me.

I am not ignoring you. I'm driving.

Can you pick up a few bottles, please?

Fine.
Anything else?

Her last text went unanswered and she tossed her phone back on the passenger seat before turning around and driving toward Main Street. She parked out front on the street and walked inside the store, not bothering to remove her sunglasses as she hid her red and puffy eyes from the people around her.

She had cried harder than she'd ever cried in her life as her father's casket had been carried into the mausoleum by the four pallbearers, Henry being one of them. And she was so emotionally drained that she didn't have the energy now to stop the tears as they welled up in her eyes again. She blinked past them as she walked up and down the aisles in the store, attempting to cool off and destress as little as she aimlessly looked at the products on the shelves. As she approached the last aisle near the back where all the alcohol was stored, she took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down and to ignore the voices in her head that told her to pick up a few bottles for herself, too.

Just as she remembered, and much like the rest of the town, there were only two shelves of wine and there was still not much of a selection to choose from just as there never had been in the past either. Her fingers twitched as she picked up a bottle of rosé she knew her mother liked to drink and then she grabbed another, not sure how many bottles Zelena meant when she said a few.

"That is a good choice, this is a better one," an older woman said with a raspy voice as she walked up behind Regina and reached for one of the more expensive bottles of rosé on the next shelf. She instantly recognized the older woman, Eugenia Lucas, the owner of Granny's diner and the bed and breakfast. The old woman just chuckled as she picked up a bottle of the same rosé Regina had in her hand for herself. "Nothing like what you can get in the big city, huh?"

"Not at all," Regina replied with a polite smile. "Thank you," she said, taking the older woman's suggestion for the more expensive bottles and put the others back. "I wasn't really sure what to get. I-I don't drink anymore."

"Oh," Eugenia said as she peered up at Regina from over the top of her glasses. "Hello, Regina," she said as she finally recognized Regina and she smiled brightly. "How are you, dear? It's been a very long time, hasn't it?"

"Yes, it has been a very long time. It's nice to see you again, Mrs. Lucas. How are you?"

"I've seen some better days, of course," she chuckled lightly and reached for a second bottle on the shelf, slowly readjusting her glasses to read the label. She shook her head and turned to Regina with another smile, a sad one. "My condolences, Regina," she said softly. "Your father was a dear friend."

Regina hadn't known that Eugenia Lucas and her father had been friends, so that was rather surprising news to her. She stammered as she looked down at the bottles in her hand and frowned as she said, "My condolences to you too, Mrs.-"

"Eugenia," the older woman corrected her and she gently laid a hand on Regina's shoulder before giving her a rather serious look. "Your father tried to call me Mrs. Lucas once. Damn near tore him to pieces with my bare hands. Same goes for you if you try and call me that again, you hear?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Granny, stop." Regina turned to see the older woman's granddaughter Ruby rushing down the aisle towards them. "Sorry," Ruby said as she laughed nervously and pulled the bottles out of her grandmother's hands. "I'm so sorry," she said almost breathlessly. "Granny hasn't been quite herself lately. Ever since her second heart attack-"

"Oh hush, child, you had no idea what the hell you're talking about," Eugenia scolded as she grabbed the bottles right back out of Ruby's hands. She turned to Regina with a sweet smile and then gestured to the flabbergasted brunette beside her. "You know my granddaughter, Ruby, don't you?"

"Yes," Regina replied. "We went to school together many years ago. Ruby, how are you?"

"Great, I mean, you know not today, but in general," she said in a rush. "I'm so sorry about your dad. I know you two were close after you left." Regina gave her a quizzical look before Eugenia tugged on Ruby's arm impatiently. "We should get going. We'll see you at the wake?"

"I'll be there," Regina replied flatly and she watched the two women as they walked off to the front of the store, bickering back and forth.

She avoided heading to the register until after the two women had walked out. She was beginning to see just what her sister had meant when she said that things were different. She'd seen it throughout the service at the church and then at the cemetery and she'd seen it now with her old high school acquaintance and her grandmother there at the store. She'd seen it too with her own niece and Emma's son as it was clear that they were best friends, family, and the love they had for one another was so very obvious in every little way. She'd seen the way that Emma and Henry just seemed to be a part of the family now and it felt so surreal just to see it that way at all. It shouldn't feel that way, she knew that, because she also knew that things were the way they were because they were all family now.

And she had not been a part of that family as she was supposed to have been. As she was meant to be. Not anymore.

It hurt. It hurt deep. But the part that hurt that most was just knowing that it was her fault entirely that things were the way they were now. It was her fault that she'd been so stubborn and that she continued to be without fail. It was her fault she'd let that stubbornness lead her broken heart astray and it was her fault that-

"Hey!" the man behind the counter barked out at her. "Are you going to pay for that?"

Startled, she nodded and placed the two bottles on the counter and pulled out a few bills from her pocket. He scoffed and opened the register, sneezing into the crook of his elbow twice before he made change for her purchase with an irritated grumble. He passed her the change and placed the bottles into a paper bag. Regina winced at the next sneeze that came as soon as he handed over the bag.

It was more than twenty minutes later when she finally walked into the house, most of that time having been spent trying to find parking on the street as the driveway was full and the entire street was jam-packed with parked cars. It was the frustration of having to park on the next street over that left her cursing under her breath as she walked into the front door. She was late and she was hoping nobody, especially not her sister, would notice as she slipped into the kitchen and past dozens of people that were inside the house.

There was music playing from somewhere in the house and there was not one person she recognized on the walk to the kitchen either. She rolled her eyes as soon as she saw the dozens of bottles of wine already laid out on the counter and she took out the two she'd picked up from the store out of the bag and placed them down on the counter. She removed her sunglasses just as her mother waltzed into the kitchen holding two rather large jugs her father normally kept his homemade cider in.

"Ah, Regina! There you are!" Cora said with a slight slur to her voice. "Just in time for the toast!"

"What toast, Mother?" Regina asked and she watched her mother pull out a package of plastic shot glasses and began to line each one up on the counter. "What are you doing?"

"Preparing a toast for your father," she replied with a wave of her hand and handed an unopened package of the shot glasses to her. "It is in your father's will that we all have a toast in his honor with a special blend of his cider. I found some in the cellar-"

"You've already read his will?" Regina asked incredulously. "Why am I even surprised?"

"I was there when we both rewrote both of ours just last year. The reading of the will isn't until tomorrow morning, dear. If you only had an inkling of how much it is costing me to have the lawyer come tomorrow morning instead of on Monday because you are leaving-"

Regina scoffed. "Nobody told me that the will was being read tomorrow morning, Mother."

"I'm telling you now, dear."

Regina clenched her jaw tightly. She tried her best to ignore her mother because it was clear she had started drinking and was feeling more than a little bit buzzed already. It was moments just like that that had been one of the many reasons she had gone a very long time without speaking to her mother, this time longer than the last, several years at least.

At the first whiff of the cider as her mother began to pour it into the plastic shot glasses laid out on the counter, Regina could feel the tears burning in her eyes as just the smell of it reminded her of her father. She placed the unopened package of shot glasses her mother handed her down on the counter and was about to turn to leave when her mother suddenly grabbed ahold of her hand.

"Your father recently invested in a brewery. He wanted to share the one thing he loved most, his cider. Did he ever tell you about that?" Cora asked, careful to keep her voice low as people suddenly started flooding into the kitchen. "Did he?"

"No."

"He never told you because you never bothered to ask, did you?" Cora's voice was tight and even. Cold. She cleared her throat and released the hold on Regina's hand with a scoff. "Your father was a very stubborn man and he loved you, Regina. He loved you enough to respect that you wanted nothing to do with the rest of us when you left. He didn't tell you because you never wanted to know, but I happen to know for a fact that he wanted to share this news with you for a long time. Now he never will get the chance to, will he, hmm?"

Cora stepped away suddenly as several women approached, coaxing Cora away as they insisted they continue preparing for the toast. Regina took the opportunity of her mother's distraction to put as much distance between her and her mother as she possibly could and she walked out of the kitchen and past the growing number of people that were in the foyer. She was started when she ran into someone with an old familiar place.

"Regina, so sorry for your loss," Marco said as he reached out for her hand for an awkward shake. "Your father always spoke so fondly of you."

"Thank you, Marco." Regina smiled at her father's oldest and closest friend. "How are you?"

"Good, you?"

"I'm well, thank you."

Marco smiled politely and walked off, greeting someone else as he disappeared into the crowd of people around them. Regina turned to the stairs, the anger she'd felt after the conversation with her mother in the kitchen subsiding a little after the brief conversation with Marco. She stopped at the bottom step when she heard another familiar voice in the crowd. That voice belonged none other than to Emma Swan.

"Marco," Emma said, her voice cracking with emotion as she hugged the handyman. "How are you?"

"Good. How are you?"

"I'm okay," Emma replied and she hugged him again briefly. "I meant to ask the other day, but will you be able to come tomorrow to fix the pipes? They've been acting up again."

"Of course," he responded. "I will call before I come. Say around one?"

"Thank you, Marco."

"Anytime, Sheriff."

Sheriff? Regina wasn't sure what to think as she turned away from the stairs and headed into the den, thankful that it was empty and the guests that had been in there earlier had since retreated elsewhere in the house. Regina wandered around the den and noticed an odd, eerie light shining through in the midafternoon sun that came in the windows.

She could still hear Emma's voice and the laughter that soon followed. Regina swallowed thickly as she turned to her father's chair, suddenly drawn to it as sunlight bathed the chair with its soft, eerie, ethereal-like glow. She heard Emma still as Emma made her way through the foyer, engaging with the guests as she did.

Regina ran a finger along the double-stitched seam on the worn armrest. Memories of her father in that very chair rushed back to her all at once. It all rushed by in a blur and she stepped back as the sound of Emma's laughter drew nearer. She held her breath nearly just as Emma chose that moment to walk into the den.

"Hey," Emma said with an awkward smile. "Regina. How are you?"

"I've been better," she replied. "You?"

Emma laughed a little as she took a few steps into the room. "All this small talk and pleasantries is kind of weird, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Dad-I mean your father wouldn't have wanted that."

"No," Regina sighed. "He wouldn't have. He would've hated all of this. He would've wanted this wake to be just with the family, not the whole damn town."

"Your father is-was the type, who, outside of his work and family, enjoyed his time alone. This was one of the places he always went to when he wanted to be alone," Emma said and she sniffled softly as she looked over at the chair still bathed in the sunlight streaming in through the window. Regina felt a few tears slowly slip down her cheeks as Emma sniffled again and wiped at her own tears. "I'm sorry, it's just hard to believe he's gone, I guess."

Regina turned away from Emma and wiped at her own tears. She closed her eyes the moment she felt Emma's hand fall upon her shoulder and her instinct told her to turn to Emma, to fall into Emma's arms, much like she had back at the church. She didn't, though, simply because it was different now. She shrugged off Emma's hand and walked past her father's chair to stand at the window. She only turned when she heard Emma step away and watched her as she took a seat on the sofa closest to the chair.

"Uh," Emma said and she cleared her throat. "How long are you in town for, Regina?"

"Just until tomorrow now I suppose."

"Oh. Okay."

"Why?"

"I just wondered," Emma replied with a shrug. "It's been a long time since you been here."

Some things were better left unsaid and there were a lot of unspoken words in everything Emma had just said and didn't say. Regina didn't respond as now was not the time nor the place to bring up their past. Now wasn't the time to talk about the things they should've talked about years ago.

Regina sighed heavily as she sat down in her father's chair. She closed her eyes as she leaned back, grateful the tears had subsided, but new ones threated to fall. She pinched at the bridge of her nose and sighed again. Being around Emma was a lot harder than she had imagined it'd be and talking to her seemed impossible at the moment, too.

"He talked about you a lot," Emma said quietly. "He was so proud of you and all that you've done, what you made of yourself. When he came back from Boston last weekend, all he did was talk about what you two had done and how wonderful it had been to spend time with you again."

Tears came easily as she didn't bother to fight them now. They were hot as they rolled down her cheeks. She turned her head, her eyes still closed, and inhaled deeply. Lingering in the worn leather of the chair was the faintest hint of her father's cologne. Regina's breath trembled as she tried to make sense of everything, especially since it was just so hard to believe that just a week ago she was driving up to Boston to meet her father for a weekend together just like they did every once in a while. It was so hard to believe that she'd never see him again, never hear his soft and caring voice, never hear his laugh just as she'd never see the twinkle in his eyes just before the laughter started.

It was just so hard to believe he was gone. It still didn't feel real. It would never feel real and it would always feel as if that piece of her heart that belonged to her father died with him.

"Regina," Emma said, her voice cracking with emotion. "Maybe now isn't the right time, but I think that we should ta-"

"You're right," Regina said sharply. "Now is not the right time."

"When will it be?"

"To talk?" Regina asked. "When will it be the right time to talk, Emma?" She sighed and wiped at her tears with her fingers angrily. "I don't think there'll ever be a right time."

She could only sit and watch as Emma got up from the sofa with a small shake of her head. The lump in Regina's throat grew tighter and she tried to swallow past it as the tears continued to fall. Her vision started to blur and her head was filled with a million different thoughts. There were a lot of things she needed to say to Emma and yet the words just didn't come easy at all. All she could do was sit there and watch Emma walk towards the doorway and then she just left.

Without looking back.

Without saying another word.

Much like Regina had done to her a long time ago, too, when she just left.

It took Regina a long time before she could stop the tears. They weren't just falling because of the shattering grief she felt over her father's sudden passing. The tears fell because of Emma. They fell because of the guilt she harbored ever since she left that one night a long time ago. There was still a lot of unfinished business between them and there they were, a whole decade later, and they were still no closer to having that talk that should've happened a long time ago. The tears also fell because she knew, now more than ever, she knew that she was still very much in love with Emma Swan.

Like most of the last ten years of her life, she had tried so hard not to hold onto the past, but the memories were always there, rushing in, overwhelming her, invading her every thought. She had tried to move on, to heal her broken heart, but she had never stopped loving Emma Swan. The past would always be there, that much was certain, but it was the present and the future she was so very uncertain of. What little she had seen since her return home and what little she'd heard, too, her sister's words from the night before rang clearer and truer than before.

Things were different after you left, but it should've been because you stayed.

There were so many things she could've done differently before, so many different ways that she could've dealt with the fight that had ended their relationship. She couldn't take back all the things she'd done wrong in the past, to take back all the words that had been said that she still regretted to that very day. What she wanted now, most of all was to see just how different things truly were, and to try and make up for all the wrong things she had said and done and to try and make up for all the years she had been gone.

A/N: So, if anyone is reading it here, what do you think so far?