Chapter 31

Two weeks. That's how long it'd been since Regina was sucked into the portal. Since then, they'd tied up loose ends, telling everyone in Storybrooke that Regina had simply moved away, and James had taken over as mayor. They figured it'd be easier than telling the truth. The truth that magic still existed.

Graham had officially resigned as deputy, simply leaving his letter of resignation on Emma's desk the very next morning after Regina was gone. Without him ever telling her, Emma knew that their breakup was the cause of this, for she knew that he loved his job and would never give it up for anything. So this was yet another thing Emma had to be guilty about. After Graham quit, he pretty much vanished from town, only showing up occasionally at Granny's, always nursing a beer. She knew that she'd pretty much ruined his life.

But what other choice had she had? The idea of staying with him scared her to the core. She couldn't even fathom the thought of staying with him after he'd broken his promise. Yes, he'd done it to save her, but that wasn't the point here. All that mattered was that he'd lied, gone behind her back even after she'd explicitly told him otherwise. It was her biggest pet peeve. No, even worse than that. It was the whole reason why she had so much trouble trusting people. After more than twenty years of living with people who had no trouble going back on their promises, it was something that she just couldn't handle.

Her mother had briefly mentioned that maybe Emma had so harshly dumped Graham because she was afraid to get close to someone again (yes, she'd told her parents about Neal), but Emma quickly dismissed that thought. It was just ridiculous. There was no way that was true. She refused to even consider it.

~The New Normal~

Graham stared morosely at his fifth? Sixth? Or maybe seventh bottle of beer of the day, and it was only noon. He knew that ever since the breakup, his life had been going downhill at an alarmingly fast pace. But it was like trying a snowball from sliding down a hill-it was impossible to stop. He barely got out of bed anymore, leaving only to go to the bathroom and, of course, drink.

He wondered why he was so crushed about their breakup. If you really thought about it, Emma wasn't worth the trouble. He'd opened himself to her multiple times, yet she'd rejected him just as many times. The worst part was that he'd made good progress after the attack, but getting revenge on Regina had erased their budding relationship. Either she was totally screwed up and had trust issues, or she really didn't love him, and the time they'd spent together in the hospital was nothing more than a ruse. But that didn't change the way Graham felt about her. He'd loved her since the very first moment he'd seen her that first night in Regina's house when she was bringing Henry home. When he'd hatched the revenge plan against Regina, he'd created it with the full knowledge that Emma would be furious if she found out, but he had to go through with it anyway. Just the mere idea of Regina getting away with attempted murder and still at large, ready to strike at any moment made him burn with rage. It'd killed him that she'd used his body to hurt the woman he loved, and he knew he had to do everything in his power to prevent that from ever happening again.

At least she was safe. Even though getting rid of Regina killed their relationship, maybe it was all worth it, for it ensured Emma's safety. Now all he had to do was get himself to believe that.

~The New Normal~

For the seventeenth time that day, Emma caught herself staring at what used to be Graham's desk. She sighed, taking off her reading glasses and rubbing the bridge of her nose. She was the one who'd broken up with him, so why did she feel so terrible? Everyone in Storybrooke had adjusted to this new normal, a life without that bitch crap of a mayor, so why hadn't she? Everything should've been perfect by now. She had a wonderful family and her biggest enemy was gone.

Just then, she heard footsteps enter her office. "Hey, Mom."

Henry's use of the word mom warmed her immediately. "Hey, kid. Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

"Short day on Wednesday's, remember?" Henry reminded her. Then, seeing his mother with her head in her hands, he immediately became concerned. "Are you ok?"

Emma looked up. "What? Yeah. I'm fine."

"You miss Graham, don't you?" Henry gave her that knowing look. It was so eerily similar to the look May Margaret gave her when she knew Emma was lying.

"No." But it was beyond obvious that she was lying.

"Yes, you do." Henry said. "Just admit it. You love him and you wish you hadn't broken up with him. So get back together already." He urged.

Emma fought the urge to cry. "It's not that simple, kid."

"Yes, it is." Henry was stubborn as hell. Probably got it from her.

"Henry." Emma's voice took on a warning tone.

But he ignored her. "Come on. You're gonna have to learn how to trust people eventually."

"I do trust people." She argued.

"But not enough."

Emma rolled her eyes. Why was she having this discussion with her ten year old son? "Henry, you should go. I have a lot of stuff to do." She put her glasses back on and grabbed a pen.

"You're gonna get back together." Henry said over his shoulder as he left, a cheeky grin on his face.

Author's note: Does that mean what I think it means :P to find out, REVIEW! I'm not updating till I get a lot! More reviews=faster update