Side note: Zelena's time spell from in the show doesn't happen.

Several weeks had gone by in which they defeated Zelena, Snow had her baby and Ruby had gone back to the enchanted forest to try and find her pack of werewolves. Since Ruby wasn't around anymore to take Lena to forest for running, Lena had gone with several other people: Emma, David, even Hook. It had become a weekly tradition for the two girls to go running in the woods on Saturday morning so Lena was grateful she had people caring about her so much to keep up this tradition. But none of them were as fast or as fun to run with as Ruby. Although Emma was a close second. Still Lena missed her friend.

"There you are" Regina said, finding Lena sitting in the kitchen. She had taken place on the ground next to the tall window reaching from floor to ceiling. Lena was looking outside into the garden where the rain was softly falling down. "You seem troubled."

"I just miss Ruby" Lena replied.

"I know you do." Regina set herself down opposite Lena.

"Mom!" Henry called through the house.

"In the kitchen" Regina called back. Henry walked in. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing. I just wondered if I could hang out some friends today."

"Of course. But I would like you home at diner though."

"Yeah, sure. No problem. Thanks mom" Henry said, already leaving the kitchen to the front door.

"Henry wait just a second. I'd like to talk to you for a moment" Regina said, standing up. Before she went after Henry she turned to Lena: "I'll be right back."
Regina took Henry by the arm and pulled him into her home office.

"Is something wrong mom?" Henry asked worried.

"No, I just…I wanted to talk to you about something very important" Regina explained: "What would you say if we made Lena officially a part of our family?"

"You wanna adopt her?"

"Yes."

"That would be awesome. I already see her as my sister."

Regina sighed relieved: "Good. Hopefully Lena will feel as happy like we do."

After a sweet mother-son hug Henry left and Regina went back to kitchen. Only this time she found it empty. The back door was open but there was no sign of Lena. Regina's alarm bells immediately started ringing. Did she hear me and Henry talk, Regina thought. She grabbed her phone and pushed the button to call Emma.

"Hello?"

"Emma, it's Regina."

"Yeah, I know. I saw your name appear on my screen. What's up."

"I think Lena ran away."

"What? Why do you think that?"

"Well she's not here anymore and the back door is open."

"Can't she just…"

"No, I'm sure she ran away."

"Why? Did something happen?"

"Well…I think she heard me and Henry talk…about adopting her."

"Oh. But why would she run away because of that. She loves living with you."

"Maybe she is just not ready to make it official…I don't know…Can you help me find her?"

"Of course. I'll call David and Hook too. You should stay home for if she comes back."

"Emma…"

"I know…Don't worry we'll find her."

They hung up. Now the only thing Regina could do was pace around in her house.

"How is it that we're always ending up searching for this girl?" David asked, more to himself.

"She's scared" Emma spoke into her phone.

"Scared of having a family?" David asked confused.

"Yeah, I know what that's like" Emma said, thinking back at her years in foster care: "Wanting a family and actually accepting you have a family are two different things."

"So, splitting up?" David asked, wanting to talk strategy.

"You do the Northwest side of town. I'm gonna go to the docks first and ask Hook for help too. Then he can do the East side and I'll start at the South side."

"Okay. Call me when you find anything." David said and hung up. Emma too push the red button on her phone and then drove to the docks to meet up with Hook.

"Here for a drink love?" was the first thing the pirate said, holding up a bottle of rum.

"Lena is missing" Emma said right to the point: "Have you seen her?"

"No I haven't, love."

"Can you stop with the 'love' " Emma said irritated. She never liked being called that by the pirate. "If you see or hear anything that could lead to Lena call me, okay?"

"Euhm…Something like that?" Hook asked while pointing his hand, which was still holding the rum bottle, towards the south woods. Emma turned around and saw a huge plume of smoke rising up from the trees. "That doesn't look good" the pirate said, while Emma was already running back to her yellow bug. "Hey, wait up love" Hook called and ran after her to take place in the passenger's seat next to Emma.

Emma put her foot down hard on the gas pedal. Without hesitation she took some turns that brought them straight to the part of the woods where the alarming smoke was darkening the sky. All sorts of scenarios where going through Emma's mind. Hook was already calling the fire department because that much smoke could only come from a big fire. When they arrived at the woods it didn't take them long to locate the fire. Emma recognized the place. She had been here before. A circle of burning trees surrounded a big oak with underneath…

"Is that a den?" Hook asked confused taking in the whole situation.

"Yes" Emma confirmed: "It was Lena's home when she lived here in the woods."

"Emma, this is really strange fire?" Indeed tt didn't seem to be normal fire. Although the lower parts of the oaks were on fire, it didn't seem to spread to the treetops or any other trees. "Do you think Lena is in there?" Hook asked pointing at the den.

"I think she is."

"How are we supposed to get to her."

"I don't know yet" Emma answered honestly: "Hook, you call off the fire department. I don't think they can help much with this kind of fire."

Hook nodded and took a couple of steps back before taking out his phone. Emma on the other hand took a couple steps closer. There was a little gap between the two trees in front of her just wide enough to get through without being touched by the fire. But as soon Emma got to close the fire got more intensive which closed the gap.

"Any luck finding a way in?" Hook asked after he ended his phone call.

"No," Emma answered stepping away from the tree circle: "I'm gonna call Regina. Maybe she knows how to handle magical fire."

"It's magical?"

"What else do you think it is?" Emma had already dialed Regina's number when she turned away from the pirate. "Regina?" she said immediately when her called got answered.

"Emma!" The blonde could hear desperation in the other woman's voice: "Have you found her."

"Yeah. She's in the woods at the den she lived in before. But there's a little problem…" Emma couldn't even finish her sentence before purple smoke appeared in front of her. Regina's eyes grew big as soon as she saw the burning trees. "Don't worry" Emma said before the mayor could have a fit about Emma not having called the fire department yet: "It's not real fire. Or at least it doesn't spread to the other trees."

"And it's not even hot" they heard Hook say.

"What?" Emma asked confused.

"Look" Hook said and he put his hand into the fire. Now it was Emma who's eyes got bigger.

"Of course" Regina said, thinking hard: "It's dragon fire."

"What's so special about dragon fire."

"There's a rumor that dragons can produce fire that is actually harmless. They use it to protect their homes from intruders" Regina explained.

"Why is it a rumor?" Emma asked.

"Because no one could tell the difference between dragon fire and real fire" Regina answered.

"And no one was brave enough to test it out" Hook continued.

"If this is dragon fire than I can get to Lena just by walking through it" Regina said hopefully.

"Wait" Emma put a hand on one of Regina's arms to keep her back: "let me talk to her first. I think I understand what she's going through and maybe I can help her understand too."

Regina sighed but agreed. Slowly, with an arm outstretched, Emma walked closer to the burning trees. She took a deep breath before she took her first step into the circle of fire. It was strange seeing the flames around her but not feeling it burning on her skin. Another few steps and she was on the other side. Emma looked back at Regina and Hook before continuing to walk to the den.

"Lena?" Emma said, more to announce herself than to get a reaction from the young girl. When Emma put her head into the den she saw Lena crouched down on the ground with her knees pulled up, arms around them. "Lena" Emma said again: "Can I sit next to you?"

Lena just shrugged. So Emma took that as a yes.

"You've made quite a barrier out there" Emma tried to soften the mood. When that didn't work she tried the straight forward approach: "So I heard Regina wants to adopt you."

"I don't want to be adopted" Lena said, almost angry.

"You're already part of her family. This just makes it official that she's your mother."

"I don't want her to be my mother!"

Emma surprised by the harsh reaction, continued to ask: "Why not? You love her as a mother, don't you?"

Lena looked away.

"Hey, talk to me" Emma spoke softly.

The young girl signed. "I don't want her to be my mother because…" Deep breath. "..because mothers always leave…" Lena said softly.

Emma's heart almost broke by those sad words: "You don't truly believe that, do you?"

"Look at your family. Snow's mother died when she was still a little girl, Snow left you and you left Henry. And my mother…left me…I don't want Regina to leave me too."

"Oh honey" Emma put an arm around the girl and pulled her closer: "I know it's not easy to let people in again when you've been hurt before. But I promise you, you will feel much happier when you let those walls down."

Lena knew Emma was speaking from experience. Emma's youth was a topic they had spoken about many times during their runs. "How am I supposed to face Regina now, when I…"

"She loves you no matter what" Emma interrupted: "What if we start with something else. How about putting out those burning trees. How did you do that anyway?"

"I'm not sure. I was upset and I didn't want anyone to get to me. Suddenly the trees started burning. At first I was scared but when I saw the fire didn't spread I just let it be."

"Do you know how to put it out?"

Lena shook her head.

"Mmh…Maybe Regina knows a way. I'll got talk to her."

"Wait…she's here already?" Lena asked anxious.

"Hey" Emma gave Lena a reassuring smile: "It'll be okay." Emma stepped out of the den and walked over to where Regina and Hook were standing on the other side of the fire barrier.

"Is she okay?" Regina asked worried.

"Yeah, she's fine" Emma offered Regina a reassuring smile too: "But she doesn't know how to put out the dragon fire."

"I think I have an idea but we'll need to work together. We have to use our magic at the same time."

Emma nodded and on Regina's signal they both aimed their magic at the burning trees. It didn't take them long to put out the fire.

"That was easy" Hook stated.

"That's probably because the fire wasn't made by a real dragon" Emma guessed: "Anyway," Emma turned to Regina: "about Lena. She…"

"I heard…" Regina replied, obviously looking disappointed.

"Heard what?"

"That she doesn't want me to be her mother…She yelled it pretty loud…"

"Yeah…But it's not because of why you think. She thinks all mothers leave and she just doesn't want to lose you too."

Regina's felt her heart ache. She took a deep breath before walking towards the den. It was time for her to talk to that young girl she cared so much for. "Lena, it's Regina… Can I come in?" There came no answer so Regina placed herself on her knees in front of the den. "Lena, I know you feel scared and if you aren't ready for me to adopt you than that's alright. I don't want to force you to do anything and I love you no matter what." Regina heard movement and slowly the young girl came out of the shadows of her hiding place.

"You do?" Lena asked softly.

"Of course I do. Come here" Regina pulled Lena into a tight hug. "You scared me, you know."

"I'm sorry."

"I understand that sometimes it's difficult to talk about things but you have to promise me to never run away again. If you're troubled about anything than just find someone to talk about it. I will always be here for you. Do you promise?"

Lena nodded: "I promise." Another tight hug followed.

After such an adventurous day Regina and Lena were huddled up against each other on the couch in front of the TV with each a cup of hot cocoa. But Lena wasn't able to concentrate on the screen very much. All kinds of questions were circling around in her head. She decided to take Regina's advice and talk about what she was thinking about.

"Regina? Can I ask you something?" Lena felt a bit uncomfortable so she didn't look into Regina's eyes. This didn't escape Regina.

"Of course" she said putting her cup of cocoa on the little table next to her.

"…How does this adopting thing work?..."

"Well, I need to sign some papers and then you're officially part of the Mills family. It means that I'm your legal guardian. So I will be responsible to nurture you."

"Oh…You kinda already do that, don't you?"

"Yes. But this will make it official so that no one will be able to take you away and put you into foster care."

"Like Emma was?"

"Indeed."

"I think I'm ready for that."

"To be adopted?" Regina asked hopefully and a bit surprised.

Lena nodded: "But can I still call you Regina? I don't think I'm ready for that other step yet."

"Of course. Like I said before, I don't want to pressure you in doing anything you're not comfortable with."

Lena looked up and smiled: "Thanks."

Regina turned the smile. Lena felt more at ease now. Who knew talking about your worries would help so much. She settled herself closer to Regina and let her head rest against the woman's chest. They both sighed and turned their focus back onto the TV where the last scene of an animated movie was playing.

I'd love to hear what you think about it so far.