Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Once Upon a Time.

Author's Note: I apologize to my readers for taking so long to post. This is a really short chapter in comparison to the others, but I haven't had that much time to write lately.

As always, R & R!

Emma got back into Regina's car, finding that it was nearly one in the morning. She yawned and turned on the radio in an effort to stay awake on her drive home. Among the buttons covering the dashboard like plate armor, she found the one for the radio. The thought struck her as she put the car in drive, that Regina's Mercedes was the only new car in Storybrooke. They really were cut off.

She drove much slower on her way home than she did before. There wasn't that urgency like there had been with Armina. Emma doubted that she could sleep anyway.

Pulling into the driveway, Emma looked up to Henry's window, making sure he was still asleep. She saw that his room was completely dark, and entered the house as quietly as she could. She kicked off her boots and walked into the kitchen, then electing to paw through Regina's massive refrigerator.

Past all the expensive stuff, Emma found an unopened bottle of wine. She took it out, along with some sort of bread that Regina kept in the fridge. She knew better than to drink on an empty stomach.

Emma settled herself on a massive leather recliner in the den, and flipped on the TV, picking an infomercial that wasn't too exciting. She opened up the bottle with the opener she found in the kitchen and started drinking straight from the container. It was a sweet flavor—something that was at odds with Regina's temperament. Emma wasn't complaining; wine was wine, and she wasn't even paying for it.

She looked around at the furniture, noting how it lacked dust. Her eyes then fell on a couple of photo albums laid on the coffee table in front of her. She put down the bottle of wine and picked up one of the albums.

Flipping it open, she found several pictures of a younger Regina holding a baby wrapped in a blue blanket. A chill ran down Emma's spine as she realized who the baby was. It was Henry, and the caption said that this was the day she adopted him.

Emma reached over and took a long pull from the wine bottle before continuing on. She found a host of pictures featuring Regina kissing tiny Henry on the forehead and smiling with him in her arms. Henry looked happy, as far as she could tell.

Regina held him so carefully and she had a glorious smile in all of the pictures. Emma felt a pang of guilt at seeing her son so happily sitting in the arms of Regina. For a moment, Emma saw Regina as human, and not the woman that had been keen on ruining her life. She shook her head and kept flipping through the album.

She saw Henry grow from the baby that she had known briefly, into a toddler, then boy she knew now. It hurt to know that Regina had been there, and she hadn't. There was so much time to make up for, and she'd be damned if she didn't try to do so.

After placing the album down, she took another short drink and decided to attempt sleep in the comfortable armchair. Emma took a throw blanket from the adjacent leather couch and tried to make a bed out of the recliner.

The alcohol did its magic, and she was out like a light.

Emma woke to the feeling of Henry poking her shoulder and whispering, "Emma, wake up."

She blinked hard, trying to banish the haze of sleep from her eyes. He held a granola bar out for her to take, trying to draw her up from the nest she had made in the recliner. "What time is it?" she asked as she sat up and put down the footrest of the recliner.

"It's nine o'clock, I think. Aren't they going to try Regina today?" he asked as he sat on the couch adjacent to her chair. He was slowly unwrapping some sort of pastry and staring at her intently.

"I, uh, yeah, I think it's today. We need to stop by Mary…er… Snow White's house first. I need to pick up some clothes to wear."

"Okay! I'll pack the storybook and we can go!" said Henry excitedly as she jumped up and ran up the stairs to his room. She heard him shuffling around his room as she got up and stretched, now regretting the way she had slept. Her neck ached and she was sure her back wasn't far from giving her the same feeling.

As she stood up, the headache she didn't acknowledge before made itself known. It was, undoubtedly, the result of the wine she had consumed the night before. It wasn't much, but then again, she wasn't much of a drinker anymore. She heard Henry bound down the stairs, his backpack in hand, ready to go. "Let's go, kid," she said, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to get rid of the lights that plagued her vision from the migraine.

They left the house and climbed into Regina's glossy black Mercedes. Emma drove quickly to her old apartment, desperate to go to Armina's estate and relax for however long the trial would take.

They pulled into the driveway to the apartment building, where Henry elected to stay in the car while Emma changed inside the building.

Emma ran up the stairs and let herself into the apartment, finding Snow and James feeding each other eggs from their plates. When Emma entered, they immediately backed away from each other, both faces flushing from embarrassment.

"So," said Snow, "um, why are you here, Emma?"

"I needed fresh clothes. Did I walk in on something?" she asked, fearing what Snow might say.

"We were just…eating breakfast. Is that trial today?" asked James, desperately trying to change the subject.

"Uh, yeah, it's today. Look, I'm just going to go and change quick, then I'll leave you two to whatever you were doing," said Emma uncomfortably as she entered her room. She rifled through her limited wardrobe, trying to find something that would be appropriate for a trial, but also comfortable to wear for a while. She settled for a white button-down shirt and a pair of faded jeans, along with Graham's leather jacket.

She looked at herself in the mirror, and prayed she didn't look as bad as she thought she did. Thankfully, she didn't look nearly as bad as her headache professed. Shutting the door behind her, Emma walked awkwardly through the kitchen, her parents focusing their attention on the arrangement of food on their plates.

"That trial starts soon, so…" Emma drifted off.

Snow White smiled and replied, "We'll be there. Go on now, and take Henry there early."

"Yeah, you don't have to tell me twice," mumbled Emma as she opened the front door and left the apartment.

She slid into the driver's seat in Regina's car, starting it and pulling it out of the driveway. She took the now familiar route to Armina's mountainside estate. She was forced to stop several times for crossing wildlife ranging from a doe and her fawns to wolves and bears. She marveled at the creatures, unsure of whether or not some of them even belonged in Maine.

Regardless, she continued on, and arrived on the outskirts of the Queen of Beasts' crowded land. Townspeople were gathered around the monarch's grand mansion on her lawn and in her gardens. The estate easily held enough room for the whole of Storybrooke's population, but the house was a different story.