Emma was still visibly shaken, as she walked into her home, it felt unfamiliar, empty with most of her furniture already loaded into the car and the rest of her belongings all boxed up. She heard chatter and laughter echoing from the kitchen, and she paused before stepping forward just enjoying that sound, the corner of her lip twitched almost breaking into a smile. This feeling was fleeting as the smell of her smoke-soaked clothes hit her nose, she wiped her eyes hoping that her son wouldn't notice she'd been crying. Standing in the dark empty room Emma let out a deep breath before walking into the light and facing the concerned faces of those who cared for her.

"Hey, I heard about the fire on the news, is everyone ok?" Mary Margaret asked.

"Mom, what happened?" Henry said, their questions overlapping each other.

Answering their concerns without even verbalising it, with one look into Emma's eyes, it was clear a life had been lost, and she shook her head unable to talk about it right now. Afraid that she would burst into tears, Emma kept quiet all the strength used to try and push love aside had crumbled away, her walls, her armour, now nothing more than dust. Hanging up her coat and placing her bag on the counter she barely made eye contact with either of them.

"Emma please talk to us" Mary Margaret pleaded.

"Sorry, I know, I was supposed to be here hours ago, to help move furniture"

"Don't be sorry, we already took care of it anyway"

"Yeah, mom it's fine, we made pizza, saved you a slice"

"Thanks Henry, oh you've been working on your story?" she said, changing the subject when she noticed Henry's laptop on the bench.

"Yeah, sort of, I thought I had an idea but, I don't know, somethings missing"

"Can I help?"

"No, it's ok, I'm kind of tired actually"

Emma walked over to her son, putting an arm around his shoulder looking at what he'd created with Mary Margaret. They made the dough from scratch by the looks of the flour coating the bench, and the smell of fresh baked crust.

"I'm going to pack some more, here have a slice" Henry said handing her a plate.

Emma managed a real smile for a moment, Henry always made the worst days better, and having Mary Margaret here it was like night and day compared to coming home to Neal. Her smile faded instantly as the custody case entered her mind again knowing she could lose it all so easily, with that thought in mind she kissed Henry's forehead, before he left the kitchen heading into his bedroom.

"You going to be, ok?" Mary Margaret asked as she grabbed her bag, about to leave.

"I fine, just exhausted, my first time dealing with death at work, I guess I'll get used to it"

"Uh huh," Mary Margaret said, while watching Emma closely knowing there was something more on her mind "Did anyone else get hurt?"

"Yeah, there was a few needing oxygen, minor burns and things"

"Killian?"

"He's alive but I don't know... if I'll ever see him again"

"You want to?"

"More than anything" Emma said the words aloud, before she could stop herself. Her expression almost as surprised as Mary Margaret's that she told the truth.

"Of course," she replied with a sigh.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing"

"No, come on you want to tell me something, because I need help"

"Emma it's just, you seem to only admit you care, once you've already lost your chance"

"I don't" Emma said before pausing "Ok, maybe"

"I'm not trying to guilt you, I just hope that you're learning from the past, don't close yourself off"

"If I've learnt anything from the past, it's not to trust my feelings"

"I can't promise you that if you take the leap with Killian, it won't end badly, but I know giving up on love is much worse"

"There's nothing to believe in anyway, he's gone"

"He changed his mind maybe, but his heart, won't be so easily coerced"

"You think he'll realise his mistake, dramatically turn around come running back, because no one else ever has"

"They should have, I should have, I'm sorry you've been let down so many times but just this one last time you need to get back up" she replied, gesturing to Emma's phone.

Emma starred at the phone, but she didn't move towards it, didn't speak a word, so tired and strung out from her week, she wouldn't let herself make any decisions.

"My biggest regret in life, is that I let myself believe you were better off without me, that you wanted to go"

"This is different"

"How is that?"

"It just seems every time things get better, that I might be happy, something comes along and ruins it, I've never really believed in love"

"Whether you believe in it or not, love is real, and believing in it just makes the ride better"

This statement was meant with silence from Emma, who just shook her head in disagreement, Mary Margaret visible shook with frustration and her hands clenched, but she was overwhelmed with guilt before speaking another word, as she looked into the eyes of the broken women in front of her knowing she was partially responsible. Slowly Mary Margaret turned to leave, stuttering out goodbye and making her way out the door, still desperate for a deeper connection with her estranged foster daughter. The absence of a goodbye hug made her heart ache as she made her way down the steps to her car alone.

Emma paced in the kitchen as she slowly nibbled at her slice of pizza, eventually her eyes strayed towards corkboard on the wall, still pinned to it was the card with Killians number and she recalled that first meeting, jumping on the back of his bike, ridding away from her miserable life. Emma could still feel his warmth like she was holding on to him now, suddenly all of the rides the had together came to the forefront of her mind, it was so easy looking at world from the back of a motorcycle clinging to him, trusting him to take control. Mary Margaret's words slowly sunk in, this feeling it was love and she was no longer denying it existence, grabbing her phone dialling Killians number but it went straight to voicemail, she couldn't stop there, it was in her now and she had to say the worlds aloud.

"Killian, I… I'm sorry, I was wrong, I've been lying to myself, convinced I have too much on my plate, but the truth is I piled it on there just to avoid the chance that I might be wrong about you, but I'm not, the truth is your brutally honest, hot tempered, heart on your sleeve, loyal and I… I love you"