Author's Note:

Here's another chapter! I haven't uploaded a new chapter this quick in a long time... Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.


Emma's POV

It's been three days since our conversation with Henry, and I haven't seen either Regina or Henry. It's barely been a week since Robin has come back and I moved out of the mansion, but it feels so much longer. I knew me leaving the mansion would be hard, it has been my home for the past few months. I have had to leave my son and the women I've come to love these past few years, my home.

I've been replaced again, something I should be used to by now. I wonder if now that I'm gone, it'll be Robin and Roland having family dinners with Regina and Henry instead of me. If he will move in with her so they can play one big happy family. The thought alone makes me sick, thinking of them being together makes me sick. If I could remove my own heart just so I didn't have to feel this heartache I would, I would have done it the second Regina told me she was choosing him.

At least I'm not the only one who wants us to be together. The fact that Henry can see our connection proves I wasn't just imagining things. That we're not just 'best friends', regardless of what Regina says. Like I said, best friends don't do what we do. I wouldn't be this hurt if we were just best friends, I wouldn't have spent the last few days in my bed wasting away if we were just best friends. Only getting up to shower, hoping the scolding heat would prove a distraction to my thoughts and feelings. It doesn't.

I don't know if I can do this anymore, I feel like I'm going crazy in this apartment. The silence here is deafening, and there's nothing I can do to fill the void. I feel empty, and god, the pain, I feel like I am being consumed by a never-ending black hole. I didn't think I would come to regret the blood bond that me and Regina made, after all it's proven itself to be useful up until now. But now, now Robin has come back and I've been avoiding Regina. The need to be near her has just become stronger.

The need to always be around her has been there since we created the link. But this urgent need I feel now is nothing like the feeling I get when I haven't seen her for a few hours. This is a need that makes me feel like an addict going through withdrawal. It's confusing and frustrating because I want nothing to do with her right? Yet I want to be near her at all times just the same.

The first few days it had been just a dull ache in my chest, then as the days went on the pain started to make itself more noticeable. It has barely been a week, and I don't want to know what the pain will feel like if I continue to avoid her.

I hear my doorbell ring and for a second I think it's just my imagination. No one has come to see me. No one wants me around. It isn't until the fourth ring that I convinced myself I'm not imagining things.

"Emma?" If it wasn't for my heightened senses I wouldn't have been able to hear my name being called, or know who the voice belonged to. I slowly get up from my bed to answer the door, hoping that my mind's not playing tricks on me. Praying that the silence has not finally gotten to me.

"Ruby?"

"Hey, can I come in?"

Not responding, I move aside to let her in.

"I came to apologise."

"Why? For what?"

"Do you mind if we sit down?"

"Er. Yeah. Sure."

We both make our way to the living room.

"So, the past few days I've been thinking, and I've come to the conclusion that even though I'm still a bit upset at you not tell me you were a Hybrid, I'm not mad. I get it, you were scared, you didn't understand what you were, and you weren't ready to tell people. I know when I found out I was a wolf I wasn't shouting it from the rooftops. Only Grannie and Snow knew, and I don't know if I would have told Snow if I knew I was a wolf before I met her. I didn't have to make that choice, Snow found out what I was before I did. Who knows if I would have immediately told her or not."

"I didn't tell Regina, she was there when Gold told me I was a Hybrid."

"But you would have told her regardless."

"I would have. You have to understand Ruby, me and Regina just have this connection. I don't know how to explain it, even if I didn't tell her she would find out."

"I get it, trust me I do. I'm not holding that against you, at least not anymore, especially when you really need me right now. I just wanted to let you know I'm sorry, I was thinking about my own feelings rather than trying to understand yours. So, do you forgive me? I brought food and alcohol if that helps."

"Of course, you brought alcohol." A small laugh leaves my mouth.

"There's nothing to forgive Ruby, I get why you were upset."

"I know, but still."

"I forgive you Ruby."

"Good."

"So, what did you bring?" And just like that I feel a heavy weight that I didn't know existed lift.

"One of Grannie's famous burgers, some fries, a chocolate milkshake, and a bare claw."

"I love you"

She laughs in response.

"You better."

I eagerly grab the bag of food, ready to inhale the meal. I don't remember the last time I ate.

"How are you holding up, moving back here?"

"I knew moving back here wouldn't be easy, but I didn't expect it to be this hard."

"You just have to take it one day at a time, it'll get easier."

"That's the thing, I know it won't get any easier. Sometimes, I just want a distraction, to be able to forget everything that has happened. To be free and happy for just a moment. All I do is think about them. Think about what Regina is doing, if she is with him. I just want a day where I don't think about her and automatically feel devastated. I just want things to go back to how they were; when we were all happy, she was mine, and we were a family."

"Well that's why I am here, to help you forget about everything that's going on."

She pulls out two glass bottles.

"Whatever, you brought me to drink it would be a waste, alcohol doesn't seem to faze me anymore. I'm assuming it because my body self-heals."

"This isn't just any old alcohol, are you forgetting that my body also heals itself? If I was to drink vodka, I'd have to drink a lot of shots to even feel a buzz."

"So, what is that?"

"To be honest, I don't think you want to know."

To be honest, I don't care what it is just as long as it gets the job done.

Taking one of the bottles, opening it, I can't help but gag at the smell that invades my nose.

"God, that smells like shit."

"You'll get used to the smell," she chuckles.

"I'm going to get us some cups and something to mix with whatever the hell this is."

"I'll put some music on, hopefully your music taste has improved."

"Shut up."

It wasn't long before I started to feel the effects of the alcohol, half of the one litre bottle gone. Whatever was in the mystery drink, makes me feel a buzz I haven't felt since my teenage years. Ruby did telling me to slow down and I probably should have listened. Nevertheless, I reach for the bottle to pour myself another drink.

"I think you've had enough," Ruby barely manages out.

"I'm fine." To prove my point, I stand up. An action I quickly regret as the whole room begins to spin. My legs buckle, sending me back onto the couch.

"You know... Maybe you're right."

We both break out in uncontrollable laughter.

"Dance with me Emma."

"I don't think I can move."

I see a fuzzy figure walking up to me before I'm pulled up to my feet.

"Shit, you're drunk as fuck."

She holds me up as I begin to sway left to right, struggling to stand up straight on my own. I try to sway my hips to the loud music playing, but my body doesn't cooperate.

"You look like a fish out of water."

She places me back on the couch sitting beside me.

"You're mean," I slur.

"You love me anyway."

"Whatever."

"I probably should have warned you about how strong the drink was."

"Hmmhm."

"Don't worry... It'll fade by tomorrow. Plus, you'll be hangover free."

"…You know even Henry wants us together," I blurt out.

"Huh?"

"Henry. He wanted us together."

"Who?"

"Me and Gina!"

"Oh… Aren't you supposed to be forgetting about her?"

"I can't. All I think about is her. How I have to pretend. Pretend to support them for Henry. Tell Henry to be happy for them... I want Henry to hate him. Them. To tell Henry that forest boy is a dick, an asshole."

"You can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Because it's wrong? I don't know, you just can't."

"I want to do the wrong thing for once."

"I have an idea."

"What?"

"We should call Regina."

I laugh in response, she can't be serious.

"Think about it, we call her and make her jealous. Tell her what she's missing being with forest boy."

"I don't know."

"Do you trust me?"

"No"

"Come, let's do it."

"Where's your phone?"

"I don't know. Probably in my room."

Ruby gets up, stumbling across the room. It feels like forever before she stumbles back into the room with my phone in hand, turning down the music on her way to the couch.

"Ok here."

Before I can protest the phone's already ringing.

"Hello? Emma?"

"H-Hello?"

"Emma, are you alright? Has something happened?"

"No-Nope. I'm fine."

"Emma, you're slurring your words. Are you drunk?"

"Mayyybe."

"Emma, where are you? How did you even get like this?"

"Ruby, bought this drink."

"Do you know what was in the drink?"

"No."

She sighs through the phone.

"Emma, why would you drink something when you don't even know what's inside it?"

"Trust Ruby."

"Baby, come here, get off the phone," Ruby says into the phone, and I look at her confused.

"Make her jealous remember," She whispers covering the phone.

"Baby? Emma, are you with someone?"

"Why do you care? You have Robin."

"Regina who is that?" I hear Robin say on the other side of the phone.

"It's nothing its just-"

"So, I'm nothing now?"

"Emma, I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to."

"Emma, tell me where you are so I can come get you."

"I don't need you, I have Rubes now."

"That's right she has me now."

"Emma." Even with how drunk I am I wouldn't have been able to miss the way she growled my name in anger. Jealousy? Whatever it was it makes me feel better knowing she feels a small fraction of what I do every day.

"Why do you want to find me when dick face is there?"

"Emma, I won't ask you again."

"My apartment."

It takes a few moments for my brain to process that she used her magic to poof herself here.

"What did you do to her?"

She marches over to us, picking up the bottle and smelling it before making a face of disgust.

"Nothing she didn't want."

Ruby kisses my neck and I force my body not to move away from Ruby's sensual touches. It's not that Ruby isn't beautiful, it's just weird. She is one of my closest friends, and the thought of kissing her is just wrong.

"Isn't that right Em-ma."

"Y-Yeah."

"Get up Emma, I'm taking you home."

"I'm home. Plus, I don't think your boyfriend would want me there. I mean we almost had se-"

"Emma that's enough"

"You're right, that was a few days ago. It's the past now. Rubes is my future now."

"That's right babe." Ruby runs her hand along my thigh, and I can feel Regina burning holes into her hand touches.

"Why did you call me Emma?"

"To tell you I don't need you."

"You don't need me anymore?"

"Nope."

"Fine if you want to be with her instead of… Instead of"

"Instead of? Instead of who Regina?"

"You know what, fine! Be with her!" Her anger was radiating off her in waves. If I wasn't so drunk I wouldn't have to question whether I saw her eyes turn violent or if it was just seeing things.

"I will!"

Just as quick as she used her magic to get here, she uses her magic to make a quick exit.

"I don't get it."

"What?"

"Why you're not together."

"You and me both"

"She was clearly jealous. She was a few seconds from setting me on fire with a fireball so, why is she still with him? Why did she choose him?"

"I don't know. Ask myself that every day. Do you really think she was jealous?"

"Definitely. She wants to be with you Emma, I can feel it. She just needs to realise that letting a fairy decide your fate will only lead to disaster. I just hope by then she's not too late."

"Too late?"

"That she hasn't missed her chance to be with you. That you haven't moved on."

"I don't think I could ever move on. I will always love her."

"That's tragic."

"Yeah."


Author's Note

Not my longest chapter but, don't worry my next chapter will be longer. To make up for the short chapter, I will give you a little tease of the next one.

The next chapter I'm finally going to address the Marian situation, and there might be some Swan Queen sexy times ;).

For those wondering when Regina will finally get her act together, don't worry Swan Queen is so close to happening. Regina has a few life lessons she needs to go through before that happens.

The next chapter coming soon.

(Beta Reader- kelojelo61)