"What do you mean Hook took it and why wouldn't you have told me this immediately?" Regina asked, after pulling Emma away from the others and into one of the back offices.

"I didn't tell you because I was hoping that knowing the town was in danger, that our son was in danger, would be enough to get you back here," Emma shot back. "And it should have been."

"Don't turn this around on me. It was your boyfriend who took off with my heart which most likely caused this situation in the first place."

"No, this is happening because you couldn't be upfront with me and instead chose to run away," Emma shot back. "This happening because you told me in a god damn letter that you were in love with me and Killian read it."

Regina took a step back and then forward again, "I never said love, and could you please keep your voice down."

Emma threw up her arms in frustration. "You're right you didn't say love, but you still chose a God damn letter to tell me you had feelings for me and then left it behind when you took off. And I don't care if the whole town hears me at this point. You haven't been here, you don't know what it's been like – to have Henry look at me like I'm a failure because I couldn't find you, to have Zelena and Mal treat me like some second-class citizen because they knew I was hiding something – hiding the contents of the letter and don't get me started on Killian …"

"I don't want to hear anything about your boyfriend except for where he is at now and what he has done with my heart."

"Not my boyfriend," Emma said through clenched teeth. "And do you think if I knew where the hell he was at or where your heart was, we would be standing around talking about it?"

Regina turned from her, trying to compose herself. It was a mistake to have come back here, she thought. But now she was here, and she had no choice but to see it through and hopefully get back to Florida sooner rather than later.

"I'm sorry," Regina said reluctantly as she turned back to face her. "I know it's not your fault. But this complicates things. No wonder Lawrence was being so casual out there. Hook must have turned my heart over to the Home Office."

"They um … they can't control you with it, can they or hurt you in any way?" Emma asked.

"Control no."

Emma noticed that the answer didn't address if she could be hurt by it.

"Who is this Lawrence and how does he know you?"

Regina took a seat on one of the chairs but didn't speak immediately.

"When I left here that day, I didn't have a destination in mind. I wasn't even convinced that I was doing the right thing. I felt out of sorts and … and it made me careless," Regina said. "As you now know there are pockets in this world where one can do magic. I was in one of them – only intending to stay a few days to figure out where to go next. That is when they found me – the Home Office. They waited until I left that pocket. Once I did, they took me."

She looked up at Emma but paused before saying anything else.

"It took a while before I could escape," Regina said. "And when I did, I went to Florida and you know the rest."

Emma crossed her arms in front of her. "That's a little light on details."

"Well, that's all you are getting," Regina said. "Now tell me exactly everything that happened since the Home Office arrived here. And how long my heart has been missing."

"No," Emma said. "If we're doing this, we have to be open and honest with each other. Not being honest is what got us in this position in the first place."

"And I suppose that is all my fault."

"I'm not placing blame here," Emma said, her frustration increasing steadily. "Not everything has to be a battle between us. We used to be able to talk to each other without being at each other's throats. I'm trying here."

"I don't know that if that is possible for us any longer."

"Fine," Emma said. "We'll do this however you want your majesty." She threw in a quick bow to make her point.

"Just tell me how this started."

Emma went on to tell her about the woman showing up there and demanding they lower the barrier and the subsequent siege.

"When did you find out Hook took my heart?"

"Almost immediately," Emma said. "Things had been … tense between us for a while – after he had asked me to marry him and I turned him down. And within days of the Home Office showing up here, Henry found the heart was missing and it was clear from the beginning that it was Killian. He left Storybooke with it which is why Mal and Zelena had to start using their magic. It brought a sense of urgency to get you to come back here. But I had been looking for you before this happened. I'd been looking for you since the beginning. I guess now I know why the trail went cold from the start – the Home Office."

"You said he saw the letter – did you share it with him or anyone else for that matter?"

"No, I didn't show it to him or anyone else. But I did speak with Henry about what you wrote," Emma said. "Killian found the letter on his own."

"Why would you discuss it with our son?"

"Because he is our son, who was worried about his mother and where she went and most importantly why she left. Would you rather he think you left him as opposed to running away which is what you did?"

Regina looked away from her. She had run away. There was no real point in denying it. She had simply found it impossible to exist here in this town any longer – not with confusion in her head and her heart.

"I need to consult Mal and Zelena," she said standing up and heading toward the door.

"That's it?"

She looked back at Emma. "Yes, that is it. I can't do anything magically until I have more information."

"That's not what I meant," Emma said. "What about us? We need to talk about this … this whatever it is between us."

Regina gave her a small smile – and not a good one. "Whatever it is – that's probably a good way to phrase it and a good place in which to leave it alone. My plans haven't changed. I fix your problem here and then I'm gone."

"You are just going to leave Henry again?"

"No," Regina said. "I'm sure we can reach some sort of custody agreement for him to split his time." With that, she exited the room before Emma could say anything else.

Emma didn't follow her. Instead, she took a seat and tried to calm herself. This hadn't gone well from the beginning and she didn't see any way to make it go any better.

She pulled the letter out of her pocket and unfolded it. The paper was beginning to wear but the words were still quite clear. Even if they weren't, Emma had long ago memorized the words.

Emma,

I don't know what to say to you. All I know is that even if I did, this letter is the closest I could come to it. I can't face you and say the words.

By the time you read this, I will have left Storybrooke.

I can't continue like this.

I can still remember the night you showed up at my home to bring Henry back. I can still remember the fear I felt because that is what it was – I feared you so I did all I could to drive you away.

But you didn't go away and things continued to shift.

I don't know that I can pinpoint the exact moment where I felt like we were no longer enemies, but I can pinpoint the moment I realized that I had started to develop feelings for you – feelings that went beyond friendship.

It was the night you took on the Dark One's curse and saved me from a fate that would have surely destroyed me.

I didn't know what to do with that realization though, especially as I realized that it wasn't reciprocal. I don't know even know now if you had any idea that there were feelings there on my part for you.

I tried to ignore the feelings. I tried to be with Robin – the person that the universe told me I was supposed to be with. I hope he never knew that I doubted that he was my soulmate. I hope he never knew that my heart wasn't in it completely.

The guilt I feel over his death – knowing I wasn't being honest with him, is almost unbearable. I can only hope that one day I can do something to honor the man he was.

After his funeral, I couldn't bring myself to leave the cemetery, so I returned and that is when I saw you with Killian. Seeing you kiss him with Robin's gravesite right there broke something inside of me.

How could you, how could you stand there kissing that pirate in plain view of Robin's grave? We had just buried him, barely begun to mourn him. Did you even care that his life was lost? Or didn't it matter because you had the one you wanted?

I tried not to be angry but maybe I lost that ability a long time ago.

All I know is I can't be angry like that again and be around my son.

Villains don't get happy endings. I believed that until you made me believe that maybe there was a chance for me.

Now, well now, I know that I can't be happy – not as long as I continue to feel pain, feel wronged by this life, feel like I'm never going to be enough.

So, I am choosing to leave this town, leave my son behind knowing you will care for him.

I don't know who I am any longer and the answer to that isn't here.

The piece of my heart that will go with me will not contain any feelings for you. I am only telling you now of these feelings because I haven't yet split my heart in two and while I'm still whole, I feel compelled to tell you that for a brief time I felt happiness at the idea that maybe you would feel the same.

I do not expect we shall ever cross paths again. But if the universe arranges some distant meeting know that those feelings are quite gone.

I wish you a happy life with your chosen love.

Regina

She remembered the first time she had opened the letter and read those words. It was with more than a little disbelief. Disbelief that Regina had feelings for her, disbelief that she had truly gone, and a confusion of her own about her feelings for the other woman.

Emma went back to her previous thought – that this current incarnation of Regina wasn't the Regina she knew from before, the one she had grown close to.

And maybe the only way to fix this was to get that piece of heart back and return it to where it belonged whether Regina wanted it or not.

Maybe then they could finally talk.

…

Regina came back into the hall where it was clear everyone had been waiting for her and Emma to return. She walked up to Mal and Zelena.

"I need to know all about what magic has been employed," she said. "Let's go somewhere where we can speak."

"Sure," Zelena said, giving her an almost identical smile to the one Regina had just given Emma. "We can go to my mansion and speak on such matters."

"Mom?"

Regina turned to see Henry there and then she turned back to Zelena, "I will meet you there in a little bit."

Zelena nodded and Regina left, saying something quietly to Henry who followed her outside.

Once outside, Regina felt a chill – her body had adjusted to the warmer Florida climate. Henry walked beside her but they didn't say anything at first.

"I've been in Miami," Regina said. "I've been living down there for a while now."

"I know. Grandma told me after mom found you."

"I'm sorry," Regina said, keeping her eyes forward because she wasn't sure she could look him in the eyes. She felt the weight of her actions more fully now that she was with him.

"You should have called or something," Henry said. "You should have let me know where you were."

This time she stopped and looked at him. "I know," she said. "I shouldn't have left you like I did. I could have – I should have arranged for you to visit or stay or …"

"You shouldn't have left at all," he interrupted. "You should have stayed. This is our home and Emma told me about the letter you left her. You should have stayed and we could have been a family. We were a family."

"I don't expect you to understand," Regina said. "I'm not sure I understand sometimes. But staying here, I didn't feel like I could. I couldn't be here with Emma. It hurt too much and I wanted to be done hurting. My whole life it was like one hurt after another and I couldn't do it anymore. I'm not that strong. I'm still not that strong."

She didn't even realize she was crying until she saw this look of concern on Henry's face. She felt the tears then and quickly wiped them away.

"I thought …" he started to say. "I thought that your heart – the one you left with me it was red. I thought that meant that the part you left with was black and …"

"It was," she said, interrupting him this time. She looked around them quickly to make sure no one else was around and then she reached into her chest and pulled out the other piece of her heart. She held it in her palm for him to see.

She didn't know how it happened, but the heart that was once black was now red.

"So, you can still feel?" Henry asked. "You are still good?"

She nodded before putting the heart back. "But I still feel lost."

Henry stepped forward and hugged her and she felt more tears coming out as he said, "I love you, mom."