Chapter Twenty

"Mom? Are you up? I'm gonna be late for school!"

Regina shook her head and blinked her eyes open against the harsh light coming in through her bedroom window as she heard Henry banging on the door. "... What?" she muttered to herself, momentarily confused. She didn't even remember falling asleep, but she guessed she must have finally passed out after hours of replaying her conversation with Emma over in her head after the blonde had stormed out.

"Mom!" he yelled again, and Regina groaned.

"I'm coming Henry," she called back though the closed door. "Get breakfast. I'll be right down."

Regina could hear his footsteps heading away from the door as she pushed her duvet back and slid out of bed, still in nothing but her bra and panties, her dress from the evening before crumpled on the floor. It was times like this that she really missed having magic, as she got herself changed and cleaned up as best she could on such a short time constraint.

She couldn't remember the last time she'd slept in, but it hadn't occurred to her to set her alarm the night before, as she'd been otherwise distracted. She couldn't believe that she'd actually blurted out to Emma that the curse was real and Henry's book was true, and on one hand, she thought she should feel relieved that Emma reacted the way she did.

But she didn't feel relieved.

"Mom!" Henry whined again, once Regina had made her way into the kitchen and had moved to turn the coffee machine on. "We don't have time for coffee! You've gotta drive me right now or I'm going to be late!"

Regina glanced at the clock. Henry was right; he had about ten minutes before the last bell. He'd never even come close to being late for school before, and suddenly Regina regretted instilling such punctuality in him at a young age. Any other child would have gladly waited for her to make her coffee if it meant a few more minutes before school.

"Alright, let's go," Regina said with a sigh, figuring she could just grab a coffee to go at Granny's after dropping him off.

As long as Emma wasn't there, she reasoned.

A few rushed minutes later, and they were in the car and on their way to Henry's school. Henry barely waited for the Mercedes to come to a full stop before he had the door open and was jumping out, dashing toward the school without so much as a good-bye. This is how he'd become lately, more interested in being at school - or anywhere else in the world, really - than being with her. She'd hoped it was just a phase, but with Emma's arrival it had only become worse.

Regina watched him for a moment, and turned her eyes back to the road ahead of her, about to leave the school when she heard a tapping on her driver's side window. She rolled her eyes and turned to see who it was.

"Hello, Miss Blanchard," Regina said, coolly, once she'd put her window down. A rough night and no coffee didn't exactly have her in the mood to deal with Snow White this morning. "What would you like?"

"Mayor Mills, hi, um…" Snow stammered.

Regina really wasn't in the mood.

"Yes? Miss Blanchard? Is there something you would like or may I continue on my way?"

"No, no wait, just one second. Um… I was just wondering… you haven't talked to Emma this morning, have you?"

"Deputy Swan?" Regina asked, raising an eyebrow and trying to look utterly uninterested, though she could already feel a knot forming in her stomach. "Why on earth would I have talked to her?"

"Well… She said you two were having dinner last night," Snow began to explain, and Regina could tell by how red her cheeks were already that Emma had told Snow about a lot more than dinner.

Figures.

"Yes, well that was last night. What does that have to do with this morning?" Regina asked, figuring that Emma was probably back at Snow's apartment moping about their failed encounter from the night before.

"Well, you were the last person she was with, so I thought perhaps you might know what motivated her to pack up and leave town in the middle of the night last night. All I got was a note that said 'thanks for everything but I have to go.'"

Regina blanched. Emma had actually left town? She'd thought that was an empty threat. After all, wasn't she here for Henry? And she had gotten a job. She hadn't gotten a place of her own, but she had shown every other intention of staying.

"Oh. Well, she's a drifter," Regina offered by way of explanation, trying to school her features and not let her shock show on her face.

For her part, Snow looked absolutely devastated, but that's was hardly Regina's problem. She put her window back up without so much as a good-bye, and sped out of the parking lot, cursing Emma's name as she drove.

How could she do this? How the hell could she just up and leave Henry? In spite of everything, Regina had never expected Emma to just abandon him after forcing herself into his life.

Somewhere, deep in the back of Regina's brain, a small intrusive thought kept asking how could Emma do this to her, but Regina forced herself to ignore it, as she pulled back into her driveway, the coffee she'd meant to pick up at Granny's long forgotten.

She grabbed her phone from her purse as she stormed back into her house, quickly dialing Emma's number, only to be sent straight to voicemail. Regina continued into the kitchen and slammed the phone down on the counter, figuring that Emma had either turned hers off, or just blocked Regina's number.

But Regina's mind was already in overdrive, and she had another idea.

Taking the stairs two at a time, Regina rushed up to Henry's computer. He'd deleted his history but Emma had gotten it back, and Regina hoped the website he'd found Emma on was still somewhere in his email.

What she found, however, she hadn't expected. Henry must not have checked his email that morning, because waiting there on the screen was an unopened message from Emma.

Regina hesitated for just a moment, before clicking to open it.

Hey Kid,

I know it sucks to do this in an e-mail but… I have to go. I have to get out of Storybrooke. This is your home, not mine, and the longer I stay here, the more screwed up everything is going to be.

Just know that I'm glad I got to meet you and, your mom's not evil. She's just a mom trying her best.

You're a good kid, Henry, and I'll miss you, but this is for the best. I don't belong there and you already have a mother. You don't need me.

If you want to e-mail me, you can, but you can't come back to Boston, because I really can't come back to Storybrooke with you.

Emma

Regina swallowed hard. She knew that Emma was bullshitting a reason to leave, since she couldn't exactly tell Henry it was because of her. If anything could make Henry actually hate her, she guessed it would be that.

Regina breathed a heavy sigh as she exited from the email, and clicked the box to mark it as unread. She was calmer now than when she'd first sat down at Henry's desk, but she still scrolled through the remaining messages, finding none from .

She didn't know whether to be disappointed or relieved.

Somehow, this felt final. Even when she'd stopped taking Emma's calls and had effectively removed herself from Emma's life, somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she could cross paths with Emma again. She had to. Emma was the Savior, and there was nothing Regina could do to keep her from returning.

But this time, this was Emma's choice. She supposed the savior could abandon her post as savior, and there was not much anyone could do about that. The curse would remain intact, and life would go on as it always had, even if Regina felt like a part of her had just died.

"Mom!"

Henry's voice sounded panicked as he came running down the stairs; it was an entirely different kind of panicked than he'd sounded this morning, and Regina knew he's just read the email. She'd been anticipating this moment from the second he returned from school.

"What, Henry?" Regina asked, though she was sure her small smile didn't betray the loss in her own eyes. Either way, Henry appeared to be too devastated to notice any change in Regina's demeanor.

"Emma! She went back to Boston!" Henry cried.

Regina nodded slowly, trying to appear as if she was learning this information for the first time.

"I'm sorry, Henry."

"No you're not!" Henry snapped, taking Regina by surprise. "You've wanted her gone from the second she got here! Don't pretend you're not happy about it!"

"Henry! I would never be happy about something that upsets you," Regina insisted, reaching her hand out for Henry's shoulder, but he just shrugged away from her touch.

"Just leave me alone!"

Regina bit her lip as Henry turned and ran back up the stairs. Part of her wanted to throttle Emma for coming into his life just to leave again.

Part of her wanted to find Emma's address and drive to Boston herself, if only just to rip a strip off of her herself.

And part of her just wanted to find Emma.

Regina swallowed hard as the realization washed over her. Bickering with Emma had been fine when she'd been sure Emma would stick around, regardless. She had convinced herself she wanted Emma gone, and now that she was gone, she only wanted her back. The curse was meant to make everyone else miserable, but what was the point of protecting it if the Savior leaving town just made her miserable, herself.

Regina had a lifetime of things blowing up in her face that should have served as a warning to calm down and not act impulsively, but calmness and rationality had never been her strong point, and Henry had the information that she needed now. Without a second thought, she turned and headed up the stairs after Henry, swinging his door open without so much as a knock.

Surprised, Henry turned to her, wiping tears from his cheeks. "What?"

"How do I find Emma?"