This chapter is also for amywood.581 with the prompt: "New home"

Emma walked into the mansion, completely exhausted. Who knew that paperwork could actually drain you? Taking off her shoes, she slowly walked upstairs to the room that she shared with Regina.

Regina sat on their bed, Emma's laptop in front of her. "Whatcha doin?" Emma asked, flopping down onto the bed next to her.

"Well I was going to do some paperwork," Regina said. "But now I'd like you to explain this."

Emma looked at her in confusion until she turned the laptop to face Emma. Emma looked at the screen and her eyes widened. "Crap."

"'Crap' is right," Regina said. "Care to explain to me why you're looking at houses out of this town?"

"It's not what you think," Emma said, sitting up.

"No?" Regina asked. "Then what exactly is it? Because right now it looks like you're trying to leave."

"I'm not trying to leave!" Emma exclaimed. "Will you just listen?"

Regina huffed before looking at Emma impatiently. Emma chuckled before leaning forward and closing the laptop. "I'm not leaving. Let's just get that clear."

Regina went to say something, but Emma held up her hand to stop her. "Just listen. I was looking at houses outside of town in case I ever need to get away."

"Get away?" Regina asked. "I thought that your running tendencies were getting better."

"They have been," Emma said. "But I don't know. I just feel like I need to get away sometimes. This way, I actually have somewhere to go. It's not like I'm permanently leaving or anything. It's just for when I feel like I need to run."

"So are you moving your stuff there?" Regina asked. "Like you're moving into a new home?"

"No," Emma said quickly. "I would never do that. The only thing there is just a bed. I don't plan on ever staying there very long, if I ever do go there. I don't know at this point."

Regina reached out and opened up the laptop again, bringing up the picture of the house. "It's a nice house. And for a good price."

Emma smiled. "There's another reason that I bought it."

"What's that?" Regina asked, looking away from the screen.

"If I ever do run away, you'll know exactly where to find me," Emma said. "I was going to tell you about it eventually, but I hadn't decided if I even wanted to buy it or not. But I'm thinking that it would be a good idea."

Regina bit her lip. "What city is it in?"

Emma winced. "That's the part you may not like. It's in Buffalo, New York."

Regina's eyes widened. "That's so far away! Why would you go that far?"

"Calm down," Emma said. "If I need to run at this point, it's going to be because of something huge. If that's the case, I'm going to want to go as far away as I can, but still within driving distance. This seemed the most logical."

"You're practically in Canada!" Regina exclaimed.

Emma reached out and grabbed Regina's hand, getting her attention. "This is just a backup plan. I may never even go there. It's just to be prepared. Okay?"

Regina sighed in relief. "Okay."

Everything had gone wrong so quickly. Snow and David invited Emma over for lunch, claiming that they never got to spend time with her anymore since she had moved in with Regina. Emma hadn't wanted to go, but Regina had encouraged her to, telling her that she needed a good relationship with her parents.

The lunch had gone well until Neal had gotten involved. Emma had no hard feelings towards her brother, but rather towards her parents. They were so overprotective of him, and it grated on Emma's nerves constantly. Whenever she was around him, they watched her like hawks, as if she would hurt her brother without thinking twice about it.

Emma had asked to hold him, and like every time she asked, she was denied. It wouldn't have been a big deal if Snow had kept her mouth shut. "I just don't like handing him off to people. Plus, we don't know what your magic might do to him!"

Emma's jaw had dropped. "What do you mean? I have control over my magic!"

Snow and David had exchanged a look before looking at her with pity. "But will you ever really have control over it?" David had asked. "We just don't want anything to happen to him."

"I'm not going to hurt him!" Emma had protested. Snow had just held onto Neal tighter. Emma had glared at them both before quickly getting up and leaving the apartment. No one had faith in her. No matter how hard she tried, everyone would always remember the day her magic had gotten out of control.

Emotions had started piling up, and it all became too much. "Ma?" Henry called. "Are you okay?"

Emma had just looked at him, panting harshly. "Tell your mom that I'm going to Buffalo."

"What?" Henry asked. "Buffalo?"

Emma nodded before getting in her bug and driving away. Henry had just looked after her in confusion before starting to walk home. Emma was supposed to drive him home from school.

"Mom!" Henry called. "Something's wrong!"

Regina ran out from the kitchen. "What? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Henry said. "Something's wrong with Ma. I saw her as she was leaving Snow and David's apartment, and she didn't look good. She said to tell you that she's going to Buffalo."

"No," Regina breathed.

"What's in Buffalo?" Henry asked. "Why is Ma going there?"

"Don't worry about it," Regina said. "Just go pack your bag and I'll take you over to Snow and David's."

"No way," Henry protested. "I'm coming with you."

"No you're not," Regina argued.

"Yes I am," Henry said strongly. "I love her too. I'm not just going to sit here and wait for her to come back."

Regina sighed. "Okay. But you still need to pack your bag." Henry smiled before running upstairs. They were headed to Buffalo.

Thanks to Regina finding the house on Emma's laptop, she knew exactly where it was located and how to get to it. Plus the tracking device on Emma's phone also helped.

Regina pulled into the driveway of the little house, smiling in relief at seeing Emma's bug in the garage. They had come to the right place.

"Are we gonna go in?" Henry asked, unbuckling his seat belt.

"Yes," Regina said. She got out as well, and together they walked up to the front door, both carrying a small bag.

Before Regina could even ring the doorbell, Emma opened the door. "Hi."

"Hey there," Regina said. "Can we come in?"

Emma nodded before stepping to the side, letting Regina and Henry in. "There's a room down the hall for you," Emma said to Henry.

Henry smiled and nodded before heading down to his temporary room. Emma watched him go before walking down the opposite hallway. Regina followed her, assuming that Emma was headed to where she had been sleeping.

"How long have you been here?" Regina asked.

Emma shrugged. "I got here yesterday. You guys weren't that much farther behind me."

Regina nodded before setting down her bag on the floor. She walked over and sat on the bed, watching Emma as she went to the window.

"My parents won't be able to find this place, will they?" Emma asked.

"Is that who you're running from?" Regina asked in surprise. "I thought things were getting better with them."

"Things will never get better with them," Emma said, walking over and sitting next to Regina on the bed.

"That's not true," Regina argued.

"I thought things were getting better, and here we are," Emma countered. "In a totally different state, almost in Canada. As far away as I could get."

"You could have gone farther," Regina pointed out.

"The only reason that I didn't was because I didn't want to get too far from you and Henry," Emma said. "Now that you're here, I can just stay."

"No you can't," Regina said gently. "Your home is in Storybrooke. Our home actually. We need to go back."

"My home is wherever you are," Emma said. "And now you're here."

Regina sighed. "You really are stubborn, aren't you?"

Emma smiled. "You know it."

"We'll stay here for awhile," Regina suggested. "And in a week, we'll reevaluate where things are at, and decide from there what we do. Deal?"

"Deal," Emma said. "But while we're here, there's some really cool stuff that you have to see. Buffalo is actually a cool city."

Regina laughed. "Okay. Let's go get Henry and then we can explore Buffalo, New York."