"How about Billy?", Ruby suggests as Emma and Alana sit on the other end of the booth in Granny's diner eliminating almost all the men from their list of potential suitors trying to find a match for Regina.

"Billy the mechanic...really?", Alana asks skeptical

"Well, we've crossed off because David Nolan because he's married, Mr. Gold because he's creepy, Leroy because he's a drunk, and the list keeps going.". Ruby says exasperated

"What about the sheriff... Garrett?",Emma offers

Alana leans back in the booth and closes her eyes sleep evident on her face," His name is Graham and even though he's a good match he's a bit...weird. I mean the dude has a wolf as a pet that he keeps in the woods."

"Who says that's a bad thing?!", Ruby says defensively

"Plus, Ruby has a thing for him.", Alana adds

"Isn't he like forty years old?", Emma asks a bit thrown off

Ruby scoffs,"Graham is not that old...he's only thirty-two", she finishes quietly

" That's not creepy at all", Emma replies sarcastically

Ruby sticks her tongue out at Emma, who rolls her eyes. The duo is then interrupted by the sound of snoring coming from Alana. " I think it's time to call it a night.", Ruby declares not bothering to hide a yawn. "Yeah, Regina is waiting for me.-", Emma says as she gathers her things and steps out of the booth,"- Do you need help with her?", Emma points to Alana's sleeping figure on the table.

"It's fine. I'll just call her mom to see if she can pick her up and if not, then she can sleep in one of the rooms at the inn."

Emma ,seemingly satisfied with the answer, begins to walk out the door when Ruby stops her. " Why do you call her Regina? "

Emma turns around with a confused look on her face," Because that's her name.", she answers obviously

"Well no duh. I know that, but she's your mom right? Yeah,she's your adoptive mom, but still..."

Emma sighs," Look, Ruby we're all very tired. Let's just get some sleep. Okay?"

Emma turns to leave when she hears Ruby mumble," Whatever".

Emma ignores her and continues out the door and into the cool September air. She turns and walks down the sidewalk to Mifflin Street. Truth be told Emma didn't really know why she still called Regina by her first name. She was nice, she was patient, she was how any mom would be. But in Emma's mind, calling Regina 'mom' would mean getting attached and Emma couldn't do that. Not when there was still a chance that things could go wrong. Regina could still decide that Emma was a mistake and send her back into the system.

So consumed in her thoughts Emma accidentally bumped into someone. " I'm sorry.", she began," I wasn't paying attentio-", Emma stopped in mid-sentence when she saw who she had run into.

"Hello Emma.", greeted her science teacher, Mr. Locksely

"Mr. Locksely! Um...hello. What are you doing out here?", Emma asked a bit awkwardly, not used to seeing her teacher outside of school. Mr. Locksely laughed,"I could ask you the same thing."

"Oh, well I was with some friends and I guess we lost track of time. I'm just on my way home", Emma explained

"If I'm not mistaken, Regina's your mother right?"

" Yeah...", Emma answered uneasily

"And you live on Mifflin Street, correct?"

"I do.", Emma replied, ' for now", she thought in her head.

"I thought as much. You're walking in the wrong direction." Mr. Locksely stated

Emma looked at her surroundings and found that her middle school teacher was right. I must've made a wrong turn at Granny's, Emma thought to herself.

"Well,I would be more than happy to walk you home." Mr. Locksely offered

"Thanks."

And with that Emma followed her teacher to her house on 108 Mifflin Street.


After a brief walk Emma soon found herself in the front lawn of her house and turned to thank her teacher when Regina opened the door.

"Emma!", she cried as she ran to the thirteen year old embracing her in a hug. "Are you okay? Where have you been? What happened?"

"I'm fine. I was with some friends and I lost track of time, then I got lost and Mr. Locksely helped me. Now please let me go.", Emma explained impatiently. Regina reluctantly released Emma from her grasp and she ran, or walked as fast as she could with a prosthetic leg, into the house. Regina slowly rose from the ground, not caring to hide the wounded look on her face.

Sheriff Graham, who had been standing silently in the background, was the first to speak," I'll just go and check on the lassie. Make sure she's okay.", and with that he retreated into the Mill's Mansion.

Regina finally turned and acknowledged the presence of the middle school teacher. She cast one of her mayoral smiles and stretched out her hand. "Hello, I don't believe we have been properly introduced. I'm, as you may know, Regina Mills."

The schoolteacher stood there dumbly, staring at Regina, completely enthralled with her beauty. 'She's gorgeous', was he could think before breaking out of his trance.

"Huh? Oh! Yes, I'm Robin Locksely.-", Robin said while shaking her hand,"-I teach at Emma's school. She's a wonderful student by the way, very smart."

Regina gave a small smile, so small you might not have noticed, but Robin did and in return he smiled back. " How would you like a glass of the best apple cider you've ever tasted?", Regina asked

Robin grinned," Got anything stronger?"


A/N: Hey! I know it's been awhile since I posted an author's note, but I wanted to thank all of you guys for following, favoriting and reviewing to my story. It means a lot. :)