Guys I REALLY hate math so doing the math to figure out the age of Avery's baby and such was a big time struggle. Plus literally no one can agree on the timeline of OUAT. So just go with it.

The first part of the trip to Detroit was spent in silence. They planned to get to Detroit today, which would have them arriving around lunch time. This would allow them some time to look at the crime scene photos and do some more research before they continued.

For now, the silence and tension in the car could be cut with a knife. "Can we just let it go?" Regina asked, finally breaking the silence after a half hour.

"No," Emma replied, not even glancing away from the road.

"But why?" Regina pressed. "There really is no need to talk about it, it's in the past and in the past it will stay."

"Yes, and as we're seeing with Avery the past doesn't really always stay there now does it?" Emma fired back.

"Touche," Regina mumbled, looking out the window.

Emma reached over and grabbed Regina's hand, squeezing it gently. "Can I ask some questions?"

Regina looked over at her in surprise. "You want to do this now?"

"Why not? We have about 4 hours of driving left to go," Emma said, shrugging.

"Great, 20 questions," Regina drawled.

"You know, that's not a bad idea. Only 20 questions."

"Only 20? I can think of how many tough questions you can ask in the first 5."

"That's not fair, you know I wouldn't be that mean."

"You're wanting to have a very intimate and tough conversation about my past while we're driving in the car that is the last piece you have of your ex that fathered our son."

Emma laughed, and Regina quickly joined in. "How about 5 questions?" Emma asked when their laughter had died down.

Regina rolled her eyes. "You really aren't going to let this go at all are you?"

"Nope," Emma said. "I'll start easy. Will you ever tell Snow?"

"You call that starting easy?" Regina scoffed. At the look she got from Emma she rolled her eyes. They both knew she was avoiding the question. "No, I won't. She doesn't need me ruining the memories she has of her father by bringing up something from so long ago. That isn't fair to her."

Emma hummed in understanding before continuing. "How do you seem so unaffected? I mean I had my suspicions but you never let on."

"I wasn't, at first," Regina said. "But I just pushed it aside I suppose. I had regular visitors, even from other kingdoms, and that isn't something that you let show. I boxed it up and shoved those experiences away so I could continue on. And I did end up killing him, in the end."

"Good," Emma said, without thinking. Regina huffed out a laugh. "Although technically it wasn't really you."

"Ah, but that's how you're supposed to do it. Get somebody else to do the dirty work so they can never prove that you had something to do with it," Regina said with a wink.

Emma smiled, bringing their joined hands up and kissing Regina's hand. "That's my girl."

They sat in silence again, this time with it being comfortable. Finally, Emma broke the silence. "How often did it happen?"

"Not every night," Regina quickly reassured her. At Emma's doubtful look, she elaborated. "Okay, at first it was. But then, you know, he got bored because he wasn't getting the reaction he wanted. I stopped fighting."

Emma took a deep breath before signaling and pulling off of the highway and pulling into a random gas station. Regina looked at her in confusion. "What are you doing?"

"Having this conversation," Emma said, parking the bug.

"We were just having it without it making the trip stop," Regina argued. "We have work to do."

"Which can wait," Emma said, turning so she was facing Regina. "I have two questions left."

Regina sighed. "Fine."

Emma went right in. "Why don't you want to talk about this?"

Regina looked at her in surprise. "I told you why. I don't even really know how to talk about it since it's been so long."

"I don't believe you," Emma said quietly.

Regina sighed. "You're asking a question you already know the answer to. For the same reason you don't like the memories of your past either. It makes it real."

"Last question," Emma said gently. Regina just nodded. "Does it ever still haunt you?"

"Of course it does," Regina said without hesitating. "It took years for me to be touched by anyone without having a reaction. I still have nightmares every once in a while about it, but they aren't consistent. I think the experience is buried too deep for that."

Emma nodded. "I stopped because I want you to realize that just because we're on this trip for me and my past doesn't make yours any less important. Because you are so very important."

"I'm starting to get used to that idea," Regina said, smiling at Emma. They both leaned in and shared a gentle kiss before breaking apart and getting situated back in their seats. They had a road trip to continue.

Once checked into the hotel in Detroit, Emma and Regina had grabbed lunch and made their way back to their room to go back over details of Avery's case. They were both sitting on the couch with the photos and files spread on the coffee table in front of them.

"Do you think we could find a medical record of Avery having her baby?" Regina asked. "That might help us determine things."

"Birth records are public records in California," Emma said thoughtfully. She grabbed her phone and went online, then sighed in frustration. "We need the baby's name."

"So let's brainstorm then," Regina suggested when Emma set her phone down in frustration. "Think about it. She was your age, correct?"

Emma nodded in agreement, not really sure where this was going.

"You had Henry when you were 18?"

Another nod from Emma.

"Your birthday is in October, when was hers?"

"January. So technically she was older than me for most of the year."

"So at the time she wrote this letter she was 15 and you were 14."

"More than likely, I left Ingrid when I was still a teenager."

Regina grabbed a piece of paper and started to piece together a timeline. "So that would mean that at the time of the baby being born, it would have been 1997. Which, depending on the date of the baby's birth, would make him or her 24 or 25."

"Right," Emma agreed. "I would agree with that timeline."

Regina paused in her writing. "Emma…how old is Mary?"

Emma reached over and grabbed a file made in Storybrooke, flipping it open. "It says here that she was born March 23rd, 1997. Which would make her 25."

"Mary isn't Avery's sister," Regina said in disbelief.

Emma shook her head, looking in shock at Mary's photo. "She's Avery's daughter."