sorryyy guys short chapter! Hope you still like it!

btw I just wanna mention that I have a foster sister of my own (I'm the foster family) so I do understand what it's all like from experience and how it feels and stuff but I don't really know how it works with all the homes and replacements and stuff so all mistakes are mine there. Srry for that.

xx

Of course I was wrong. I saw her again when I was fifteen and she was nineteen. A day I will probably remember forever, in all kinds of ways.

"You understand what is going to happen after this, Miss Stevens. " The person on the other side of the table said to me.

"Swan." I corrected him.

"You do know that..- "

I interrupted the poor man again while I stared at him. "I know. But can I?"

"Not until you're eighteen." He said to me to which I rolled me eyes and stared down at my hands again.

We were quiet while he grabbed some files from his fancy suitcase. I took the time to look around the room. I have been here before, they use different ones but this one I had already seen. The curtains were still grey and it was still as empty as it had been five years ago. Back then I had figured that they weren't done with it yet but now I realized that it was just meant to be this boring. The radiator in the back made an annoying zooming noise, I didn't understand how these people could be in this room the entire day.

"Miss Stevens." The man said, snapping me out of my thought. I hadn't taken the effort to memorize his name but luckily the nametag on his suit said: Jack Smith, Replacement Manager. I had heard of him for others, he was supposed to be really good at his job. Not that I cared right now.

I realized he was talking and forced myself to pay attention again.

"You will hear from us within a week. If there is an emergency you can call me at this number." He smiled apologetically at me before handing me a card. It was just as boring as this room. Plain white, only showing his number and name. I took my bag and put it inside, immediately standing up afterwards.

"Thank you." I said though I didn't really mean it. He smiled at me again and shook my hand. "I'm sorry." I shrugged and left the room.

The upcoming Thursday I was standing in my room when Sophie entered.

"Hey." I said softly to her as I applied make up on my face. I had finally learned how it worked and started to regularly wear it, knowing I looked great with it. I still didn't wear as much as my foster sister did but it was better than three years ago.

"Hi." Sophie replied softly as she stepped up to me and grabbed a comb to brush through my long curly hair. I decided on letting it grow and even though it tangled up a lot, it looked better, more suiting to my age. Sophie, on the other hand, had cut her brown straight hair till above her shoulder. She had grown a lot in the last years. Not in height, she had just become so mature. It was like something had just switched inside her after that party three years ago. Apparently she had been sneaking out with that guy for quite a while and she wasn't that happy about it. Besides that she felt totally ashamed of being tipsy and driving and leaving her little foster sister alone on that party.

"You look good." Sophie said as she stared at me. It seemed like any normal day but the atmosphere and slightly red eyes of Sophie reminded me of the situation.

"Girls come down please." Frank yelled from downstairs. "I need to talk to you.''

Sophie shared a sweet smile with me before she placed an arm around me and we made our way downstairs.

When we entered the kitchen the tension was even worse. Sophie gave her father a death glare while I didn't even look at him at all. Frank himself just looked devastated.

"Emma dear, listen. I know you don't want to talk about it but we have to." I shrugged and crossed my arms. He sighed deeply and drank from his coffee, clearly also very tired.

"I love you like you're my own daughter but with you and Sophie….. it's going to be too much. I can't take care of the two of you alone now that Molly is-"

Sophie stepped closer and cut her dad off, surprising me with how harsh her voice was. "Don't say it."

Her father stared back at her the same way while I watched the two of them. Like father like daughter right?

"Now that your mother is dead." He spoke to her, his tone firm and his eyes fixed at hers. It was clear that Sophie tried to hold the stare, tried to stay strong but when the words left her father's mouth you could see the true emotion shine through her perfect features. The pain.

I don't know why but I started crying at that point. I had cried a lot over the last few weeks, after Molly's sudden death due to a horrible traffic accident but this time I didn't even feel it coming. I realized I was crying when I felt the drops land on my hand and I looked down, surprised that they were coming from me.

Frank looked back at me when Sophie finally sat down.

"Did you already meet with the manager?" He asked me. I nodded.

"Last week."

"Good." He said while nodding, though he wasn't really happy with it. "Well.. we'll talk more tomorrow, okay?"

I replied with a simple yeah, we were both happy to push the subject away.

Sophie looked at the clock. "We should go. It's a long drive to the church."

About thirty minutes into the service I was scheduled to do the eulogy. I knew what I wanted to say but realized that with my emotions going all around the place this was going to make it really hard. Sophie nodded at me when she left the podium and rubbed my shoulder. It was comforting.

I cleared my throat and took a deep shuddering breath. I had never been at a funeral before and it surprised me how many people were here. Of course I couldn't tell if that was normal or not but it seemed like a lot of people. My eyes scanned the crowd and then suddenly my mouth dropped open.

There she was. Regina.

And Cora and Henry.

They were all there. Smiling slightly at me through their tears. What I noticed too was that Steve was also there, his arm around Regina but she continued to shift away from it, which I found odd.

I should have known that they would be here, Molly was loved all around and also she and Cora were old friends, which is the reason why Regina had been distant friends with Sophie too.

"Uhhh.." I stammered, my eyes still fixed at Regina. It suddenly felt like I needed her. I didn't hate her for being there. I was surprised but I somehow felt like a wave of warm energy was coming my way. She nodded at me and I looked at everyone else again, the block in my throat disappeared and I felt like I could speak again.

"Molly always said "What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world, remains and is immortal." I stayed quiet as I looked to see some people smile, recognizing the quote. I took another deep sigh and went on, searching Regina's eyes again.

"I never understood what she meant by that. Not really. But now, now I see." My eyes stayed on Regina's the whole time.

"Without her, I don't know where I would have been now or what I would have become. Molly made me who I am today, and that remains and will remain for as long as I am alive. I couldn't thank her enough for that. And though I have no idea where me life will go from this, how I am going to live with the pain, how we are all going to live with the pain-" I corrected myself as I looked down before looking again at Regina who was crying now – "I know that we will. Grief comes in all kinds of forms. We can't control it. There will be days where it will hurt so much that we think we can't breathe, but then we just have to find a way to live with the pain. It won't go away. We'll learn how to live with it. I think that the best thing we can do is to stay together. Molly left us pieces of her in each and every one of us, that was her gift and that's exactly what she tried to tell me for all these years."

I stopped and some people applauded me while I went back to my seat, finally letting the tears stream down my face. "That was beautiful." Some people whispered as I sat down again.

The service lasted for another twenty minutes. I excused myself from my foster family relatively soon after that. Sophie said it was okay, probably because she knew where I was going. I walked closer up to the Mills family but stopped in my tracks. I wasn't sure if I was ready to talk to Cora and Henry. It would be too awkward. And I definitely didn't want to talk to Steve. Luckily Regina was pointing towards a room in the back. I followed quickly.

"You really spoke from your heart." She said as we stood there in the silence. I nodded and smiled, wiping some tears from my cheeks that still lingered there.

"Are you okay?" Regina asked me.

"Yeah." I only responded before sighing deeply and opening my mouth again. "Thank you." I said. It was hard to get it out of mouth but I managed.

"For what?" She asked me, one eyebrow raised.

I thought that she was pretending that she didn't know but when I noticed the actual surprised look it seemed like she really wasn't aware of how much I had needed that smile during my speech.

"I couldn't have done it without you." I admitted softly while I looked down at my feet.

Regina apparently didn't know what to say so she started a lighter topic. "I hear you had your birthday a couple of weeks ago. Fifteen already huh?" She smiled.

I nodded. "Yeah."

There was another uncomfortable silence. "How are things with Steve?" I watched her face at this point, wanting to read the reaction. I was not surprised when I noticed the slightly hurtful look in her eyes when I mentioned his name. My eyes stared deep down into hers. It was like she sensed I was reading them because she turned away from me when I wanted to speak again.

"Great. We're actually going to college in two weeks, together." Regina said as she placed a fake smile on her face. Her hands were fidgeting with her black dress but I don't think she noticed.

I smiled broadly at her, wondering if she could read me as well as I could read her and see that it was forced. "That's great! Where?"

Her smile faded. "Boston."

My mouth dropped open. "That's pretty far."

Regina shrugged. Suddenly the door was pushed open and Frank looked at the both of us. "Sorry to disturb but we need you Emma." I nodded and turned to Regina again. "Well then.. good luck… I guess…. maybe I'll see you again in a few years." Regina smiled softly at me.

"Yeah.. maybe."

I remember crying that entire evening. About everything, moving out, an uncertain future, Molly's death but also about the fact that Regina was going to Boston. I had no idea why but it didn't feel right.

i know i know short.. but I promise the next one will be longer :)