An exhausted Emma walked into her classroom Monday morning to start preparing for the day. She had her meeting with Henry's older sister, Naomi, before school this morning and she was hoping that it went well. She took another drink of her Venti dark roast and closed her eyes hoping that the brew would help wake her up.

She took her phone out of her briefcase sighing because once again there weren't any new messages or missed calls from Regina. She was trying to give the woman her space to think but she was quickly losing patience. She wanted to talk to her and work this out. She needed her.

She flipped the phone onto silent and placed it into her top drawer and glanced at the clock it was 7:15 and Naomi should have been here five minutes ago. Emma didn't have any other way to contact her so all she could do was hope that she would show up.

She started looking through graded papers and planning out this week's assignments. She usually does this on Sundays but she couldn't bring herself to focus on anything yesterday. She drank her coffee down regularly, gazing out the window occasionally, and checking her phone every few minutes out of desperation. Before she knew it the first morning bell rang and the class began to fill with students.

Henry walked in, head down, hair a mess and looking as if he hadn't slept in days.

"Henry may I see you for a moment?"

Henry sat his bag in his desk and approached her.

"Henry, your sister never showed up for our meeting this morning. Did you give her that note I sent home with you?"

Henry began looking around the room nervously, "Uh yeah, yeah I did. She was called in to work for an early shift. She said to tell you sorry."

Emma looked at the kid who she knew was not being honest with him. She would have loved to talk more with him about it but she had twenty other students waiting on her so she smiled. "Okay Henry go ahead and sit back down."

….

The rest of the school day went on slowly with Emma continuously checking her phone. Each time she was disappointed and ended up drowning herself in two more cups of coffee at lunch. Ashley had asked her how move in day was and Emma avoided the conversation making up a reason she had to be in her classroom.

When the school day was over she approached Henry who was in the parking lot under the pavilion waiting for the rain to pass.

"Need a ride kid?"

"No, I'm okay; I can wait for the rain to stop."

"That's silly. Come on," Emma motioned at Henry and began walking towards her Jeep with a reluctant boy behind her.

"Thanks but I really could have waited." Henry said as they climbed into the Jeep.

"I know but it's no problem. I really have nothing better to do anyways," Emma joked trying to make the boy smiled. She failed.

"Don't you have a husband or something?"

"Nope, no husband."

"Oh. Kids?"

"That would also be a no."

"Man, no wonder you're bugging me all the time."

"Hey! I'm just trying to be nice ya know!"

"Yeah." Henry sighed looking out of the window as they pulled out of the school parking lot.

"So, am I taking you to the diner again?"

"Uh…no…"

"Oh yeah your sister was called in this morning right?"

Henry nodded.

"So, why didn't she pick you up from school?"

Henry shrugged.

Emma knew something wasn't right here. She thought she should leave it alone but due to other circumstances in her life she had grown tired of people not talking.

"What's going on kid? Why are you so secretive about your sister?"

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Oh, but I think there is."

Henry sat there in silence.

"Well you know you have to at least tell me where I am driving you."

"647 Ferndale," Henry replied.

"Okee dokee…" Emma typed it into her gps not familiar with the location.

The rest of the car ride was silent and then they pulled in front of the small house. Henry jumped out before Emma could even properly stop the car. The blonde sat there and waited to make sure he was able to get into the house okay and then drove off feeling defeated.

…

Regina was lying on her sofa staring out into the Seattle skyline. She hadn't properly slept since the fight with Emma and her eyes were burning. She had been trying to sort out her thoughts but continued to find herself drowning in the bottom of wine bottles instead of calling Emma like she should.

She didn't understand how she let things get this way. She was upset with Belle. She was the one who picked up the pieces every time Belle's relationships crumbled. She was the one who nursed bruises and comforted broken hearts when Belle was wrapped up in another "perfect" guy that took his problems out on the fragile woman. She couldn't stand to see her friend go down another bad path.

But who is to say this is another bad path? Regina knew that Killian was different. Regina knew that Emma would not be so close with a man that could treat a woman that way. She saw for herself the way that Killian was looking at her friend. She saw the warmth in him that day that he gave her a ride home and how sweet he was with her.

Maybe Regina was using their marriage as a way to back out of moving in with Emma? But why? Why would she do that? Why would she suddenly panic about doing the thing she wanted more than anything right now? The thoughts became too much again as she reached for the wine bottle on the floor next to her and took another swig.

It's not even 4 in the afternoon and you are drinking again. You need to get a grip. Just call her.

Regina reached for her phone on the coffee table.

"I didn't think I would ever hear from you again," the voice on the other end said.

"Hey sis…I need help…"