I don't own these characters; Disney/ABC does.

A/N: more of Emma's drinking, so prepare for some harsh words and attempted intimidation.

3: Raked Across the Coals

The library was such a good idea and Regina made sure to tell Emma as often as possible. Right now, her best bet at tempering down her powers came from an old book she found at the library. It took all of her self-control to avoid jumping up in victory. While she did not say so, there was a time, she feared they would never find anything and she would have to learn to live with the fact that at any moment she could destroy everything around her.

"I think I found something," Regina said from her spot on the living room floor. Three heads popped up from behind books.

"What do you got?" Henry was by her side within the blink of an eye, looking over her shoulder. It was like an affection she was only learning to understand. He was anxious and eager for her.

"Yeah, what you got?" Emma asked, coming up right behind Henry. Neal joined, standing closer to Emma than Emma liked. She moved, putting Henry between herself and Neal.

"This symbol." Regina reached for a book she had saved on the coffee table. She opened right to the page she needed. "With these ingredients…" She held up the library book. "Should, in theory, push back against my demon powers."

"How would they do that? What would you need to do for it to work?" Emma asked.

"I think the best bet would be a tattoo. Magical fetishes are always good for defensive measures and a tattoo should keep the powers within me, like a plug," Regina replied.

Emma's face scrunched up. "A magical plug?"

"Well, I have read more around it, but this should work." Regina would definitely have to research more. The tattoo might stop the power or just dim it, but it was better than nothing.

Neal bent down. "I think I know where to get this stuff. So, you gonna use it to make a tattoo? How so?"

"The book details how to turn the items to ink. You know where to get these things?" Regina did not think a hunt for magical ingredients would be that easy, especially in a world without magic, or limited magic.

Neal shrugged. "Yeah. I mean, it's New York."

Regina was not sure what that meant and Henry did not give her much of a chance to contemplate it. "Yes! This is awesome. We've made progress. So, we should go out and celebrate. All of us." He kept making it a point to try to get all of them out together, but Regina and Emma tended to use their time to scour libraries for information.

"Yeah, we don't get out enough as a group," Neal said.

"Really, we kinda split along gender lines. I mean, you don't really hang out with Mom that much anymore either," Henry replied.

Neal hit his fist into his palm. "Even more reason to do it! In the beginning, I like to think we were having a good time with our sibling hangouts." He eyed Regina.

Regina nodded. "It was nice. I enjoyed it." When they first came to New York, it had the air of being a vacation. But, now with the awareness of her powers being active and Emma's meltdowns, that was gone. They were on a mission.

"Then, let's go out to eat and maybe find a show or something to see," Henry said.

"You're really turning into a theater kid, huh?" Emma reached over and rubbed the top of his head. She had a smile on her face that did not quite reach her eyes.

Henry grinned. "It's a lot of fun. I think you and Mom would love a Broadway show. You should've come to see Avenue Q."

"I think you're lucky I didn't. I know what that show's about," Emma replied. Henry gave a nervous laugh. Why did it seem like there was more to the puppet show than being a puppet show? Regina would worry if this was the Enchanted Forest, but in this realm, puppets were child's play, right?

"I know the perfect place!" Neal put up his index finger as if he had a brilliant idea. "I might need to change, though. But, leave it to me."

Emma scowled. "You know you're not the only one here who's lived in New York, right?"

"I lived here longer. I know some great places. You'll love it." He flashed her that boyish grin, one that probably made ladies melt before him.

Emma was not swayed. "I know some great places, too."

"Emma, why don't you make the call while I get Henry ready?" Regina asked as she climbed to her feet.

Henry frowned. "I don't need help getting ready. I'm good like this and I'll just put on some shoes."

"You're not wearing jeans to a nice restaurant." Regina then looked at Henry's biological parents for them to understand this was all of them.

The message was noted. No jeans were worn and Emma's pick of restaurant was worth the thirty minute wait upon their arrival. Neal spent that time trying to talk to Emma, who retreated until she had to use Henry as a human shield. Poor Henry did not get it, though, and tried to get Emma into the conversation. She ended up behind Regina, who chatted with who she suspected was one of the managers. The woman was giving her all of the good recommendations. Emma glared at the woman over Regina's shoulder, but did not do anything to stop her from talking.

Despite Emma running during the wait, she seemed to calm down once they sat down. The only problem they ran into once seated was that no matter what, Emma would be near Neal in some way. Sitting across from him probably would have been ideal, but he sat across from Henry and to Emma's right. Regina sat across from Emma and watched her inch away from Neal for the entire night as he tried to talk to her and tried to touch her. Regina jumped in to keep Neal from ruining Emma's little moment.

"So, when I adopted Henry, I did a lot of reading on nature versus nurture," Regina said, gaining the table's attention. "I was sure nurture was the building blocks of who we were, but now I would like to see if there's some nature within. Neal, are you more in favor of seafood or land-based meat?" Her and her brother might have similar tastes.

Neal blinked. "You know, I never really stopped to think about it. Hell, maybe I haven't gotten a chance to figure it out. I've been on the run for so long."

"What if we order for each other to see if we like it?"

He smiled. "I'm game. It sounds fun. Don't order me something crazy, though, to try to disown me. It's too late. You're super stuck with me."

Regina chuckled. "Good to know." She scanned the menu, but noticed over the top that Emma was frowning. She was still upset. Regina was not sure why. But, then again, Emma tended to baffle her, especially recently. Maybe this would be a good time to get Henry in on things. He already pointed out they tended to break up by gender. Now, he could have some time with his birth mother while Regina distracted her brother. "Henry, weren't you trying to find some place else to buy comics rather than Midtown Comics? Maybe Emma knows."

Henry looked at Emma with big eyes. He had gone on a rant not too long ago about the decline of collectible spaces. This was New York. There had to be some place and Emma had to know something. That seemed to save the day. They had a good dinner and Regina indulged Henry by stepping foot in an… arcade. Emma showed her how to play pinball. Neal showed Henry how to cheat at a ticket machine and his mothers pretended not to notice. It was a nice night. With luck, it was a sign that things were changing for them and they could all be happy. They could get on with life.

-8-8-8-8-

Happiness was a myth, for Emma anyway. She was on the couch, scowling at the empty apartment. She was sick and tired of the pain and the bullshit that was life. It was like a void had been ripped open inside of her and the jagged shards cut into her soul each time anything happened. Her time was soon to be up and maybe it was for the best. Once she was gone and out of the way, everyone would be able to get on with their lives, even though it seemed like everyone was doing that anyway. Her parents had their replacement baby, gushing over the little blob according to Ruby, who texted her every now and then to keep her up to date on Storybrooke nonsense.

Beyond her parents and their unborn, undamaged child, her own child and his father seemed to be getting along swimmingly. Henry spent the night with Neal, yet again. He did not need her when he had the amazing Neal. It was not like she took him out to see sights of the city or even spent real time with him anymore, trying her best to keep up with research. Neal and Regina were running circles around her with that as well. How was it they had social lives and were still better at this than she was?

Regina went on a fucking date with some bozo who had probably been humping her leg to get her number. They did not have time for that, or so Emma thought anyway. Regina put the fact that she could be consumed by her demon power on the back burner for some dick. Beyond that, Regina seemed to make it a point to talk to anyone who came sniffing after her when they went out.

It was like Regina was actively interviewing people to replace Emma now. Like she was confident she would get herself under control without Emma's help, so she had time to figure out who to spend time with when she was normal and, surprise, surprise, she did not want that person to be Emma. There would be no space in Regina's life for her, just like there was no space in her parents' lives for her as they had their little perfect kid who was not her, like there would be no space in her son's life for her once Regina was normal. He would have two parents, who apparently were perfectly capable. Added to that, Regina would have her brother.

So, why should Regina keep her around? It was not like she had done anything worthwhile since they got to New York. Regina found a symbol that could help save her in a book not too long ago and that bastard Neal tracked down the ingredients for the special tattoo ink. Emma had not done a blasted thing, except get blackout drunk more times than she should. But, what else could she do? She was about to lose her family and her body felt shredded over it. Her mind and her soul felt even worse. It was like there was a poison inside of her, dissolving her. So, she drank, as it eased the suffering.

Even though she knew it was not the right way to cope, it seemed like it was all right to do. Who would not drink when the world was falling apart around her? How else was she supposed to deal with magic, fairy tales, and Happy Endings existing? Especially when those Happy Endings seemed to be for everyone but her and she was the hero!

She scoffed. "Some fucking hero." She downed more dark liquor right from the bottle. It was hers. Nothing else on the planet was hers, not her own child, not the apartment around her, hell, not even the spot she sat in right now.

She glared at the couch that looked like a dragon if she squinted enough, or maybe it was the Hennessy. She punched the cushion underneath her, like it was an enemy dragon. And, like a dragon, the couch often thwarted her. Well, not tonight! Tonight, after Regina came back from yet another date — or Emma replacement interview — she would give Regina a piece of her mind about this whole setup. It's not fair that I get left behind! It's not fair that I don't anything but pain and suffering and fuck this!

She had almost finished her bottle by the time she heard keys in the door. She took a breath, ready for war, yet somehow almost tipped over herself as she climbed to her feet. She growled at the world for tilting. She righted herself as the door opened and Regina stepped through, hair in disarray and phone to her ear.

"I'm fine," Regina said and yelped as Emma yanked the phone from her hand.

"She'll call you back," Emma said to whoever was on the phone and then chucked the phone behind her. It was probably just a follow up interview for her replacement anyway. So, fuck them.

"Emma!" Regina reached for the phone much too late. "That was Neal." She frowned at Emma, like that mattered.

"Oh." It was not who she thought it was, but whatever. He was trying to replace her, too, him and his actually-researching-stuff ass. "Well, fuck Neal."

Regina was unimpressed. "He has Henry with him."

Emma scoffed. "Oh, I'm sure they're fine. He's such a good big brother and an amazing father. I bet they're off building a little league team together or some bullshit."

Regina sighed and shook her head, calling attention to her less-than-perfect coiffure. "You're drunk."

Emma rolled her eyes and the world spun, but she shook it off. "Well, thank you for stating the obvious. But, you know what else is obvious?" She held up a finger in Regina's face. "How I don't have a say in anything. Did you ask me if Henry could stay with Neal? No. You just dropped the kid off, so you could go get fucked if the state of your hair is any indication of things."

Regina's jaw flexed and she rolled her shoulders. Emma waited for her to unload, but then she took a deep breath and answered in a reasonable manner. "We agreed Henry would spend tonight with his father, which is why I set my date for tonight. You said you were going to do some reading."

Emma could not believe the lies Regina would say right to her face. Regina obviously did not respect her anymore. "Bullshit! We haven't agreed on a damn thing since we got here and you're just happily settling into your bullshit life here, like this what we agreed on." She waved her hand around, motioning to the whole set up.

Regina pursed her lips. "I'm sorry, what's the issue?"

Emma stomped her foot and put her hands on her hips. "There's so fucking much and you're just pretending everything's fine! You fuck everything up and get to just live your life, huh? Got a new brother, got a hot date, and just being a fucking New Yorker."

Regina folded her arms across her chest. "But, what's the issue? I can't have a brother or go on a date or have a life? I don't deserve it?"

"You don't!" I really think you should stop. You can walk this back if you stop. Her mouth did not listen to her brain. What did her brain know, anyway? It clearly did not understand the intensity of her suffering, like it did not feel the same pain as the rest of her. Besides, it was part of the problem. It could not find anything to help make Regina better. "How is it you get to ruin everything, drag me along, and then dump me in the street?"

Regina stared at her with glistening eyes. "I haven't done that, Emma."

"But, you will!" Emma pointed at her again. "You're planning it, like the Evil Queen you are." Come on! Do you really just want to burn it all to the ground? Stop. You might be able to save it. But, she did not want to save anything. She wanted to tear everything down and rip it apart until it was impossible to put back together and then maybe people would understand her pain.

Regina flinched. "If I'm so evil, why are you here?"

"Because unlike you, I keep my promises and I promised to help you and be there for you, even though you don't deserve it. I keep my word because I'm the hero." Emma sniffled and puffed out her chest as a tear escaped her eye. "I'm the… hero." Her voice cracked, like everything inside of her. She was a good person, who did good things, so why was it that nothing good happened for her? Why did she not get good things? What had she done to deserve nothing but agony?

Regina's features softened. "Oh, Emma."

Emma threw her hand out to stop Regina, even though she did not take a step closer. "No, don't try to butter me up! I'm trying my damnedest here while you're off fucking around, trying to replace me like the ungrateful bitch you are."

Regina inhaled through her nose and somehow remained calm. "Replace you with whom? Replace you how?" Regina's voice was as soft as her face, like she was trying to keep Emma from flipping out, like Emma was the one out of control. No, this was all on Regina! It was Regina's fault.

"With who the fuck ever comes along, like your bullshit brother. You let Neal find the fucking ingredients to the special ink you need for the tattoo to control your powers." Emma said that like it was an accusation, which was what it felt like. It was like Regina called her out on something without saying anything.

"I didn't 'let' him. He knew where to find them." Regina threw her arm behind her, as if motioning to the door.

"Oh, bullshit!" Emma stomped her foot. "I know where to find stuff, too. I find shit for a living! I come from a stupid legacy of I will always find you! You just didn't want me to. You're not letting me do anything and then you're going to leave me? You're gonna get rid of me like it's my fucking fault? Well, that's just bullshit."

"Emma, I'm not leaving you or leaving you behind. I'm not trying to get rid of you. I want you here."

Emma stepped into her face, a move reminiscent of their earlier meetings. "Stop fucking lying! That's what this dating crap is about! You're trying to replace me!"

Regina opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She could not deny the truth. She wanted Emma gone just as badly as her parents did.

"You're just as bad as David and Mary Margaret. Use me and then throw me away," Emma said.

Regina winced. "I think I'm going to go to bed." She turned to the hallway.

"Can't think of a lie, huh? You're the fucking worst," Emma said to Regina's retreating form. "The fucking worst!"

-8-8-8-8-

Regina woke up, wrapped herself in her robe, and went to survey the apartment. When she had come in last night, she had been keyed up, ready to do so much. But, dealing with Emma had drained her. She had not gotten to anything, just falling into bed after she escaped.

She checked Henry's room first, planning to straighten up, and was surprised it was not empty. Neal and Henry asleep in Henry's room. Henry was curled up in his bed and Neal was on the floor, a sheet over him. She was not sure why they were there, but did not concern herself with it. One of them would tell her when they woke up.

Emma was passed out on the couch, as expected. No matter how alert she seemed, she never made it to her room wherever she was drunk. Last night was… odd, even for intoxicated Emma. Regina was used to Emma not liking people approaching her or talking to her, which she always assumed was because it reminded Emma of the demonic power residing in Regina. Last night, it seemed like it was something more. Emma took Regina's dating personally. Regina did not want to think about what it meant. She had buried that and had no desire to dig it up to revisit. She focused back on Emma.

Regina sighed. She would need to wake Emma. They could not risk Henry finding her like that. She was already out of sorts, so possibly disappointing Henry would only make it worse. And Henry would at least have questions if he saw Emma asleep on the couch. She was not sure if he would understand what the scent was that clung to Emma like her very skin if he caught a whiff, though.

"Emma," Regina said.

Emma groaned in response, which made Regina scowl. Great, so now she would have to be more forceful and possibly incur any remaining drunken wrath. Just the way she wanted to start her day.

"Emma." She leaned down, grabbed one of Emma's shoulders, and shook Emma.

With another groan, Emma swatted at her. "Cut it out." She rolled over onto her side, showing her back to Regina. And why not? After all, last night, she basically showed her entire ass.

Regina frowned even harder. "You need to go get in bed."

"I am." Emma burrowed deeper into the back cushions to escape.

"This is the couch. You need to get into bed."

Emma turned her head a little and smiled in her sleep. "You want me in bed."

Regina's expression cut deeper into her to the point she could feel permanent lines forming. "Now's not the time for jokes unless you want your son to see you passed out on the couch."

"My son. He is my son." She said it like someone certain in herself, but not in others. That was an issue to examine another time when Henry was not one room away and close to losing all faith in one person he had always believed in.

"Yes, he is." It was important to affirm Emma was not losing everything as that seemed to be the source of her anger.

Emma moaned and rolled, almost falling off the sofa. Hazel eyes shot open as she caught herself. She sat up and stared at the floor for a long moment, eyes glassy and lost. Then, she got up and went to her room without a word. Guess the "near-death experience" was enough to snuff out any remaining fury.

With another sigh, Regina shook her head and was about to go about her business, but noted a familiar facade poking out the cushions. Her phone. She grabbed it and found out it was dead. She blew out another breath, feeling a wariness scratch at her bones. She needed to do something or she would come out of her skin. So, she went to charge the phone in her bedroom, needing the short walk for some reason, and then got started on breakfast, wanting to get that done as soon as possible since Neal and Henry were there.

Taking stock of what she had, waffles, eggs, bacon, and toast would be breakfast of the day. A few minutes into her task, Neal eased in and sat down. His hair was wild, going off in every direction, and his t-shirt was wrinkled from sleeping on the hardwood floor. He stared at her, his eyes hard.

"Yes?" Regina asked, attention on her waffle batter.

He pursed his lips. "So, you're just going to act like nothing happened?"

"What happened?" She had only just woken up. Not enough time to get into anything.

"Last night with Emma. She was drunk and screaming at you."

Regina gasped and glared at him. "How the hell do you know that?" What happened between her and Emma was none of his business and not his concern.

"She didn't end the call when she took the phone from you."

Regina growled and marched over to him. "You listened to our private conversation?"

He scowled right back at her. "She was screaming at you and I was worried. Emma's a mean drunk, but doesn't know it. I've only seen it a couple of times, but she decked a dude over some hot wings after making his friends cry. She's like Emma with absolutely no restraint. Is that what you've been dealing with when you send Henry to stay with me?"

Regina sucked her teeth. "It's none of your business. Anything between me and Emma is just between me and Emma. You don't get a say in it. Is that why you're here? You thought you'd save me from the Big Bad Emma? Remember, brother dear, only one of us has held your heart in her hand literally."

He scoffed. "You're not the first person to try to kill me and I'm trying to be here for you."

"And at any other time, I'm sure I'd appreciate it, but this has nothing to do with you. Emma is my business. Do you understand that? Emma's none of your concern, ever. She is mine." Anything between her and Emma was just that — between her and Emma. No one else was meant to intrude, except maybe their son.

He held up his hands. "Hey, I've seen you two together enough to get you have a bond."

"Then leave it the hell alone." She turned back to breakfast, but he did not seem to be done yet.

He pursed his lips. "I just want to look out for you."

"And I appreciate that." She really did. She delighted in having a brother and he seemed delighted to have her. It was a new concept really, having close family. She smiled at him. "We should do something together soon. Let Emma have a day with Henry." They needed to reestablish their connection and Regina enjoyed spending time with Neal. He liked showing her places.

He nodded. "So, I can get a front row seat to dudes hitting on you."

"And women. They also find me irresistible." She winked. It was definitely her demonic powers, but she did not mind it. She got to meet so many fascinating people. Still, she needed to get that tattoo as soon as possible. Her powers were well beyond attracting almost any and every adult to her and were dangerous.

He gagged. "I'm not in favor of seeing anyone hit on my little sister. So, let's make our day a working field trip and find the last ingredient to the ink and get you tattooed."

"I thought you already found the last ingredient." She had been led to believe he found everything she needed for the ink.

"I found enough." That was not the right answer.

"Neal, you either found it or you didn't. You won't let me down if you didn't."

He sighed, shoulders dropping. "I just want to take care of you after everything he did to you." Rumple no longer had a title or a name for him.

"You're not him and you're doing fine. You've been here for me in ways that's very rare," she replied.

He nodded. "Well, not anymore. We can go look together. If we finish with enough time, we can even get a bite to eat."

She smirked at him. "You do realize I'll still get hit on while we do this."

He stuck his fingers in his ears. "La la la! I can't hear you!"

She laughed. Who would have thought being related to this ridiculous man-boy would seem like such a blessing? Despite everything, Regina would dare say, these were the best days of her life.

-8-8-8-8-

Emma had a headache and it was made worse by waking up to the sound of Neal's obvious laughter. She did not want to leave her room, but her stomach growled as the smell of breakfast invaded her nose. She needed food. Food always made things better.

Rolling out of bed, she ran her hand through her hair, but did nothing else to clean up. She stumbled out of the room and made her way to the kitchen/dining room. The sight that greeted her was enough to knock the wind, and her soul, right out of her.

Regina, Neal, and Henry sat at the table, eating and smiling at each other. The picture-perfect family. Yes, Regina and Neal were siblings, but it was still family. It worked, without her. Everything worked without her.

Regina locked eyes with her and a sort of shadow passed in her gaze. "Emma." Regina stood up. "I didn't expect you to get up so soon. I put your plate away." She moved over to the counter.

Emma glanced at Neal, who frowned at her. What the hell is his problem? He's the one stealing my family. Before she could address that, Henry spoke up.

"Did you sleep in your clothes?" Henry asked, even though that much was obvious.

Emma looked at her very wrinkled outfit and shrugged. "Tough night." She looked at Regina. "I might shower before I eat."

Regina nodded. "Okay. I'll make you some tea to help."

Emma appreciated Regina not saying what the tea would help with, but Neal could tell she was hung over. He could probably smell the alcohol coming from her, even several feet away. Is that why he's frowning like a jackass? Like he's never been hungover. Of course, he had not been hungover in Henry's presence. This is just bad. She was the bad parent with Neal beating her out. She needed to get out of here.

Emma retreated to the shower. With a groan, she practically fell into the burning hot shower. While her body enjoyed the hot spray, her insides dissolved under it. Neal had planted himself in her family and took her place and she was dumb enough to let it happen. Stupid. It made sense why no one would want her.

She did not prolong the shower or the inevitable. She brushed her teeth and then put on clean clothes. She made herself as presentable as a hollowed-out shell could. By the time she was back at the table, only Regina was there.

"Henry's trying to plan a family outing for us and Neal's helping," Regina said as she put the food in front of Emma along with the tea.

"Don't we have things to do?" Emma asked.

Regina waved that off. "It's important not to hyper fixate. We should take a break and enjoy each other, if not for our own sakes, at least for Henry. A child shouldn't always be pressed with doom hanging over his shoulder. He wants us all to do something together. He just doesn't know what, but we're probably going to see a movie knowing him."

That would not surprise Emma. She was surprised she was being informed and allowed to go. Maybe they were just going through the motions of including her. She would have to see.

The adventure of the day was a movie as predicted. Henry insisted on using the subway. Regina, for all her assimilating to her New York lifestyle, curled her lip the entire ride. Emma stuck close to her, especially since people approached her for her name and number. That was normal, both for Regina and the subway. But, it was also annoying and dangerous, both for Regina and the subway. Added to the annoyance, Neal kept trying to get close to her. Regina seemed to interject herself between them, but that could be Emma's imagination.

In the theater, Regina planted herself between Emma and Neal while directing Henry to sit on the other side of Emma. It was nice because Henry and Emma liked to whisper to each other about the movie. Emma was not sure what to make of it, but enjoyed it. She and Henry had full blown conversations over nachos and hot dogs as they watched the movie.

"What should we do now?" Henry asked as they left the movie. It was still pretty early. He looked around, as if an idea would wander by.

"Eat?" Emma was always in favor of eating.

"You just had popcorn, nachos, and hot dogs," Regina said.

"That's snack food," Emma replied.

"And one hot dog is a light snack," Neal said.

"You're both disgusting, but okay. Where should we eat?" Regina asked.

"Let's get some fast food," Emma said and marched off with Henry by her side.

Regina groaned, but followed along with Neal by her side. They ended up in a burger place and ordered food, but Henry wanted to eat it in the park. Regina groaned once more, but she allowed it. So, now they were in the park eating. Regina looked like she wanted the ground to swallow her up.

"Come on. You had to eat outside in fairy tale land," Emma said.

"Not like a bandit on the run," Regina replied in between Emma and Neal. They were on a bench while Henry was eating and climbing a rock. How long would it take before Regina practically tackled him to get him to calm down and eat like a proper human being?

Neal bit into his burger. "We gotta dirty you up." He waved his bitten meal at Regina, who cringed.

Regina arched an eyebrow. "I think I'll continue my quiet quest to civil you two savages."

Neal snorted, but did not say anything. Emma wanted to tell Regina she appreciated the effort. It was one of the things that made them family. Maybe I should say it. It might help.

"It's fun when you try to make real people out of us," Emma said before she bit into her own burger.

"If only it was fun for me. And I guess since I'm the one who isn't shoving grease into my mouth, I should get Henry before he ends up in New Jersey," Regina replied.

"Definitely don't want that." Emma also did not want to be alone with Neal, but Regina deserved time with their son.

Regina glared at Neal before she went to get Henry, who was some distance away. Neal stared ahead, but that did not last long. He leaned over and Emma leaned away.

"Emma, you gotta stop drinking," he said.

She blinked, not expecting him to say that. "Excuse me?"

"You gotta stop drinking. Look, I'm gonna send you a file and you have to listen to it. Don't just delete it because it's from me and don't listen to it with Regina around."

She frowned. "Why not?"

"Because she's going to get pissed at me, okay? Listen to it and go from there."

Before Emma could respond, Henry charged toward her, screaming her name like it was a dire emergency. He wanted another burger. Regina looked pained behind him thanks to his yelling and probably eating while walking around. Emma went in the bag to give Henry another burger.

Somewhere in between that, Neal sent her the file. She did not get to listen to it until later that night while she was alone in her room ready for bed. She grabbed her headphones and pressed play. She was not sure what she expected to hear, but her own voice shrieking at Regina was not it.

"What the hell is this?" Emma asked herself and then texted the question to Neal in a text thread that up until that point had been nothing but ignored texts from Neal.

He replied quickly. It's a long story.

I got time.

He called her and, for the first time in a long time, she picked up. She needed this story now. What was wrong with her?

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: Emma confronts Regina about this.