A/N: this chapter is short, and it's kind of a transition to set up the rest of the story. I promise, Emma and Regina's affair is far from over, and this is the only chapter where they won't be together in some way.

Storybrooke

Back in Storybrooke, the insane notion to call Emma occurred to Regina from time to time, but she always managed to talk herself out of it. She still couldn't figure out why she was so hung up on the young blonde. It made no sense to her. She was not a teenager with a crush, after all . She was the Evil Queen.

It was supposed to be meaningless sex, and yet on her last few trips out of Storybrooke to Boston and New York, Regina went straight back to her hotel room after her last meeting and just got on the plane and flew home the next day.

And she hadn't called Graham in nearly a month.

It wasn't supposed to go this way. Emma was just another girl in a bar, despite her enchanting green eyes and magnetic smile. Just another conquest. Just another notch on Regina's bedpost. Or two notches, as it were. With the distinct possibility of a third. And fourth. And fifth. And however many more it took to get Emma out of her head, and break the blonde's hold on her.

Regina was sure she'd grow bored of her eventually.

"What's so intriguing about Portland?"

Mr. Gold's voice startled her, as she looked up and saw him standing in the doorway, clearly eavesdropping on her phone conversation.

"Nothing. Business," Regina replied, rolling her eyes before looking back down at the papers on her desk.

"I was under the impression you detested flying across the country," Gold commented.

"Is there something you want?" Regina asked, not bothering to hide her annoyance.

"Not at all, I'm just here for the Small Business Association meeting," Gold replied, with a sly smile that made Regina wonder if he knew more than he was letting on.

"Good. Carry on then. I'm busy," she said, with the dismissive wave of her hand.

It was months before she finally got another meeting in Portland, and the meeting wasn't until August - ten months after she had first met Emma. It seemed like an eternity ago, and the meeting seemed even further away.

Regina tried to call Emma a couple times, but she only got dead air on the other end and realized Emma hadn't kept minutes on the phone. Regina tried to tell herself it was ridiculous to think Emma would have waiting this long for her. She should have called sooner. Emma was nearly eighteen now, and a pretty girl. It had been foolish to think she would still be interested.

Still, when she borded the plane to Portland, Regina got those familiar butterflies in her stomach. She decided she would try calling Emma again after her meeting. If she didn't answer, she figured she could look for her in that seedy bar again. Silently, she berated herself for not calling sooner. And for not getting Emma's address. Or the name of the diner she was working at. Mostly, she berated herself for getting so worked up over the young blonde. The world was full of young blondes. Emma wasn't special.

Except for that she was. And Regina knew it.

When her meeting ended, she went back to her hotel room and tried Emma again. To her surprise, this time it actually rang. Regina's heart skipped a beat, and then sunk when she heard an unfamiliar voice through the phone.

"Hola?"

"Hello? I'd like to speak to Emma Swan."

"Este no es Emma," the voice replied. Well no shit, Regina thought to herself.

"Who is this? Why do you have her phone?" Regina demanded.

"No hablo Inglés."

"Un-fucking-believeable," Regina growled as she hung up the phone. She should have known Emma would hock the phone.

Regina was livid. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out why she let Emma get to her this way. This wasn't her. She never cared about anyone but herself. She never let anyone affect her so much. And yet here she was, caring, affected. And she hated it.

What have you done to me, Emma Swan?

Arizona

Emma sat on the cot in her bunk in the minimum security prison her boyfriend had landed her in, staring at the wall and idly rubbing her growing belly. Staring, and thinking.

Every day in this place was the same, but today had been a little different. Today she had spoken to a lawyer about putting her baby up for adoption. And today, for the first time in months, she thought about Regina.

When Regina hadn't called within the first few months after their last night together, Emma had decided that perhaps it really had been nothing more than a meaningless hook up to Regina. Maybe she had simplely imagined the subtle clues that perhaps it was something more.

So she hocked the phone. She hadn't really wanted to, but she had been fired from the diner and she needed the money for food. A couple days later, she stole a yellow Bug and met a man named Neal. She fell for him fast and hard. He had been the first person since Regina who had actually seemed genuinely interested in her. And he was there. Emma was still young and naive, and so lost. She thought she might follow him anywhere.

But in the end, here she was, alone and pregnant, serving his prison sentence, and thinking about Regina. She wished she would have thought to write down Regina's number before pawning the phone, but realistically, what would she actually do with it? She couldn't just call her out of the blue from prison, even though a small part of her thought she might actually hop on a plane and fly to Arizona, if she knew Emma was there.

No she wouldn't, Emma thought to herself, I'll probably never see her again.

Regina stormed into Gold's shop. She had been back from Portland for a few weeks now and nothing felt right. She had even broken down and called Graham, though she only thought about Emma the whole time he was with her, until she kicked him out of her bed, post-copulation. Even after he left, she kept thinking about Emma.

What the hell is wrong with me?

She knew she needed something to distract herself. She needed to forget about Emma. She needed something to focus on. Something to worry about. Something to love. Someone to live her back. She pushed the thought out of her mind that maybe that could have been Emma. Emma had made her choice when she sold the phone and rendered herself unreachable.

All she wanted was to be happy. That's all she'd ever wanted. She tried to remember when she had been happy in the past. There was Daniel. And Emma. And Owen, the sweet little boy who had come into her life for a short time. A child. That's what she needed.

"I need a child. And I need your help."