A/N: can't stop listening to Frozen's (Idina Menzel's) Let it go *sigh*


3.

And in the morning when he woke

all I left him was a note
I told him
I am the flower you are the seed
We walked in the garden
We planted a tree
Now baby don't try to find me,
Please don't you dare
Just live in my memory,
You'll always be there

Regina took a deep breath and immediately winced. She smelled of sex. And of the blonde. Not even a good amount of perfume could cover up that musky scent. She hadn't had time for a shower. Or she hadn't herself allowed to take one.
After waking up in a warm embrace, the blonde's body pressed against her entire length from behind, she'd panicked.

She'd grabbed her still slightly damp clothes from the day before and dressed as quietly as she could. A brief look into the mirror on her way out of the door had shown her a frightened and messy version of herself.
She usually knew how to control her emotions and how to handle any kind of distressing situation, but in that moment she, Regina Mills, had simply panicked and fled from the room in a headless haste.

She had thought to leave a note - words hurriedly scribbled on a piece of paper on the nightstand - but she couldn't for the life of her recall what she'd written. It was as if the words were erased from her memory. Now she was on her way back to Storybrooke, safely tucked away in the confines of her car. The storm had passed and aside from a couple of leaves and some branches on the road no trace of it remained.

The knuckles of her hands around the steering-wheel were white from the death-grip she had on it. She had to shake her head repeatedly to clear away the thoughts that threatened to distract her from the task of driving.

Her clothes clung to her still damp from the rain the previous night and she shivered. She hadn't stopped for gas at the last gas station and now she would barely make it to Storybrooke with what she still had in her tank. So she didn't turn on the heat and instead endured the cold, her teeth clattering pitifully until she saw the 'Welcome to Storybrooke' sign by the side of the road.

Her heart pounded excitedly at the thought of seeing Henry. One hug from him and her world would surely right itself again. She had a job, she had Henry and an overall very comfortable organized life. The previous night wasn't going to throw her off track. She wouldn't let it.
Thoughts of the blonde stranger plagued her on the entire ride home but she was sure that given a couple of days she would start to forget about her until she was but a pleasant memory.

Regina pulled into the driveway of Kathryn's house and got out of the car. The muscles in her thighs and back ached nicely as she stretched and bent down to the side mirror to check her appearance. She wasn't wearing any make-up but she hoped Kathryn wouldn't notice. She usually made it a point to look impeccable, no matter the occasion, but there just hadn't been any time.

She briefly fussed with her hair that hadn't seen a brush since the day before and made her way to the door. It didn't take more than ten seconds after she had rung the bell until the door was flung open and Henry launched himself into her arms. They hadn't been apart that long, just a night, but to Regina it still felt like a small eternity. She cradled Henry against her chest and leaned down to press a kiss on top of his soft brown hair.

"I've missed you mom."

Regina smiled brightly at him when he raised his eyes to look at her.

"I missed you too dear. Ready for breakfast?"

Henry nodded enthusiastically and turned around to head back into the house, shouting over his shoulder, "I'll get my things."

Regina followed him into the small foyer and smiled at a sleep-tousled Kathryn who was in the process of wrapping a robe around her body. Regina's mind briefly flashed back to another blonde she remembered being clad in only flimsy white towel.

"Hey Regina, good to see you. Are you alright?"

Regina quickly schooled her features back into a friendly smile and nodded.

"I am. Thank you for taking care of Henry. I wouldn't have known what to do without you."

"Oh don't worry about it, you know we love having him here."

Kathryn raked a hand through her hair and stepped closer to Regina, her brows lightly raised.

"Are you sure you are okay though? You look different somehow. Have you not gotten any sleep last night?"

Regina didn't blush but she was dangerously close to it. Instead she simply shrugged.

"The storm kept me awake. And I was mainly just biding my time until I could continue on."

Truth was that she hadn't even noticed the storm after she and the blonde had tumbled onto the bed. She had no idea when it had died down or if it had gotten worse during the night.
Kathryn opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by Henry who bestowed a sideways hug on her before hurrying over to Regina and grabbing her hand.

"Bye Miss Nolan. Let's go mom."

"Goodbye Kathryn. Coffee tomorrow?"

The blonde nodded with a smile and waved when they made their way over to the car and Regina backed out of the driveway. She glanced at Henry in the rearview mirror and caught his eyes. He smiled and so did she. Yes, this was how life was supposed to be. She was happy.

Breakfast with Henry distracted her from a certain blonde stranger while her son entertained her with stories of what had happened at Kathryn's during her absence. Only the odd look Ruby gave her when she walked over to the table reminded Regina that she wasn't entirely looking like her usual self at the moment. She half expected that others might detect a certain scent about her she had yet to get rid of.

So right after dropping Henry off at school, she headed straight home, slipping out of her shoes and dropping her coat to the floor she walked up the stairs and right into the bathroom. She took a long hot shower, needing to wash the memories away. After that nothing would remind of her encounter anymore. No more distractions needed.
Her workday began just as any other during the past ten years and by the time she had made it to her lunch break, she felt halfway normal again.

She was keeping the treacherous thoughts successfully at bay until she retired to her bedroom that night after making dinner and tucking Henry in. She attempted to read a book but found it completely impossible to focus. So she turned off her bedside lamp and rolled onto her back to stare at the ceiling of her room.
Her silken sheets felt cool and soft against her skin, so different from that awful hotel bed. Regna closed her eyes with a sigh. She didn't want to think about that anymore.

But in that state between waking and dreaming her mind betrayed her and she imagined perfect pale skin and blonde curls. Lips dancing across her abdomen, lower and lower until a tongue swirled around her clit and made her gasp with pleasure and surprise. She couldn't remember it ever feeling that good. She'd never come with someone just having their tongue inside of her, licking and stroking, but with the blonde she came so hard that she'd probably woken the entire hotel with her scream.

Regina was breathing heavily as she shot into a sitting position, drenched in cold sweat in the middle of her empty bed. She raked both hands through her disheveled hair, tugging on the knots her fingers got stuck in.

"This is ridiculous," she mumbled to herself and snuggled back into the pillow, determined to not lose any more sleep over this.

The remainder of her night however was restless and she was tossing turning rather than sleeping so that by morning it was Henry who had to wake her when she failed to notice her alarm blaring on the bedside table next to her.
Henry was worried, but she assured him that she merely hadn't slept well and everything would be just fine. She took him to school after breakfast and went about her day, again as if nothing was out of the ordinary. And nothing really was. There was absolutely no reason to keep thinking about a woman whose name she didn't know and whom she would never see again.

The next couple of nights were spent in a similar fashion, her dreams haunted by alluring memories and images while her days were seemingly endless hours of paperwork and petitions. She'd never found her work as mayor tiring, quite the contrary, she liked being in charge and making decisions, but the tedious bureaucracy was starting to wear her down. She was reacting more testily when something didn't go according to plan and more than once she had to stop herself from yelling at her assistant for being the most incompetent being on the planet.

People didn't seem notice her change in demeanor, or at least they didn't comment about it to her face. Only Kathryn was brave enough to bring it up as they met for their usual coffee on Tuesdays.

"Regina what has been going on with you? You look like you haven't slept in days and David told me you tore him apart when he came to your office to speak about the animal shelter's budget plans for next year."

Regina clenched her jaw and closed her fingers tightly around her coffee mug. She immediately felt on the defensive. She was doing her job and she was being a wonderful mother to Henry, what else did everyone expect her to do? Go about her day with a goofy grin plastered on her face like that annoying little schoolteacher Mary-Margaret Blanchard?

"I'm fine," she replied tersely and forced a smile onto her face.

Kathryn leaned back and crossed her arms in front of her chest, eyes narrowing.

"No you're not. Don't try to hide this from me Regina. Something is bothering you. You know you can talk to me about whatever it is, we're friends, right?"

Regina took a quiet breath and nodded.

"You're right, we are friends, but it really is nothing. I've just been having a couple of stressful days and I haven't been sleeping. I admit I am a little off balance, but I'll make sure to take more time to relax."

Kathryn nodded and grabbed her mug, seemingly satisfied with that answer. She took a sip of coffee, her brows furrowing with whatever thought she was having.

"I think you and Henry should just take a weekend off. Do something fun together, get out of Storybrooke."

Regina was about to protest – she had so much work on her desk without taking a weekend off and if she neglected it for three whole days she would be so helplessly behind that the town would fall to pieces without her guidance.

"The town will survive a couple of days without you," Kathryn said as if reading Regina's mind.

She cocked her head to the side and gazed at something past Kathryn, thinking it through. Maybe taking time off and dedicating it to spend with Henry was the right thing to do. Regina found herself nodding.

"I guess you're right. It's a good idea, and Henry will also be having fun. Thank you Kathryn, I think I just needed a push in the right direction."

"You are more than welcome. Let me know if I can help with anything."

"I will."

When Regina came home from work that night, Henry dropping his backpack and hurrying up to his room to read the newest comic she'd bought him, she felt much better. That weekend would surely prove to be what she needed to get back on track.
She prepared dinner with a smile, happy at the way Henry inhaled the spinach quiche and her chocolate mousse dessert. He was more than excited when she told him about her plan to get out of Storybrooke for a weekend and immediately assured her that anything she came up with would be fun.

She tucked him into bed with a gentle kiss to his forehead, leaving him to finish his comic with the flashlight he was hiding under his bed, thinking she didn't know about it.
She retired to her study and poured herself a glass of cider while kicking off her shoes, standing on her plush gray carpet in stocking-clad feet. She sighed quietly and her eyes wandered to her massive desk at the other end of the room.

She had been putting this off for days now and it was about time she faced it and opened the damn envelope.

She had planned to open it as soon as she got home from Boston, but after her encounter with the blonde and their night at the hotel, she just hadn't had the strength to go through yet another potentially life-altering confrontation.
She took sip of her cider and slowly walked over to the desk. Her lawyer had told her that he'd moved heaven and earth to retrieve that information and it sure had cost as much. She carefully placed her crystal glass on the marble surface of her desk and opened a drawer to her right. The black envelope was still where she'd placed it a few days ago, undisturbed and heavy on her mind. She remained standing and traced her fingertips across the envelope before picking it up and putting down in front of her on the desk. She pulled a blue folder out of it and placed it atop the envelope, still staring thoughtfully.

One flick of her wrist to flip it open and she would know who Henry's biological mother was. She took another sip of her cider and opened the folder. The glass tumbled out of her hand and smacked against the table before rolling away and falling to the ground. Cider was spreading across the marble, soaking the edges of the folder and drenching her carpet.

She couldn't believe her eyes. It was simply impossible.

She was staring at a booking photograph on the first page, showing a young woman with her hair pulled back into a ponytail. Even though the picture was in black and white, Regina knew that her curls were a radiant blonde. She remembered the feel of dragging her hands through them while holding the blonde's head between her legs.

She stumbled backward and sat in her black leather chair, gulping air into her lungs. She suddenly felt very lightheaded and squeezed her eyes shut to stop the room from spinning dangerously. This couldn't be real. It had to be some kind of ridiculous cruel nightmare.

The woman she'd slept with couldn't possibly be Henry's birth mother. Coincidences like that simply didn't exist, did they?

Her eyes flickered to the name printed below the picture.

Emma Swan.

"Emma."

-TBC-