"This is actually worse than paperwork. I can not believe I just said that", Emma grumbled to herself as she re-read the same paragraph again, trying to actually understand the content rather than finishing the paragraph only to forget the whole thing at the last period. Her thoughts wandered from the book to paperwork and from paperwork to the person who used to make her do paperwork. A faint smile was born as she thought about the past, how she spent her days fighting the mayor, getting on each other's nerves, getting in each other's faces. Her eyebrows suddenly furrowed as she chided herself for getting distracted. She was the reason, Emma reminded herself, the reason she needed to pay attention to these words and not daydream.

Emma got up from the chair deciding to get a cup of coffee, promising herself that she would finish the book before the day ended.

In the last few days she had gone through dozens of books, some with which she could only lean on the illustrations to grasp the gist as the language became a barrier. It had been eerie to break into a dead man's shop at night to borrow his leather-bound books, but Emma thought as family she could be forgiven. Maybe. Maybe.

"I think your coffee is done Sheriff Swan", a coy voice called out from the door.

Emma started, forgetting the cup as she took in the visitor who had entered laden with books.

"Ruby, hey! Oh god, I really appreciate you doing this. I don't think I could ask Belle myself." Emma picked the load from Red's arms and dropped it none too lightly on the table, "How is she?"

"She's - she's coping; she is trying to keep herself busy with the library." Red sighed recalling the brief encounter. Not long ago she had met the doe-eyed girl with a beautiful spirit for life. It was sad seeing how she was being replaced by this hollow person losing interest in everything tangent. Red pulled off the crimson woollen hat keeping her warm as she sat down on the sheriff's table.

"What are you trying to do anyways?"

"I don't know, find answers?" Emma sighed, "But I'm getting nowhere. There is no mention of those stupid things anywhere."

"Not with the books Emma, this, you! What are you doing?"

"I thought you..." Emma went over the question with slight irritation, "Did Snow happen to visit the diner?" she raised her eyebrow, almost daring her to confirm.

Red wringed her hat in between her hands, "Well... she came by today and told me how you've been spending all your time in the station and avoiding home, avoiding her. But that doesn't mean that I can't see what's happening."

"I don't understand."

"Regina has been avoiding you like the plague. She hasn't spoken to Henry, unless you count those weird texts you showed me talking. And she is living with the biggest evil Storybrooke has ever seen. I don't really see how you reading about hearts is helping anyone."

"It's something I need to know Ruby, I need to know if she's safe."

"Em, I don't think Regina needs your help."

"Well, too bad, she's getting it anyways." Emma said, much like a spoilt child as she lowered her eyes to the book.

Red sighed, she had never seen Emma like this before. However much she liked to think of Emma as her friend she still felt awfully protective of her as a godmother. Ruby may have found the idea of Emma and Regina together fun but Red didn't. She closed her eyes and shuddered as her mind replayed the day she had found Snow lying unconscious on the ground. She really needed to understand what this was, and how she could protect Emma.

She heard Emma speaking absently, she guessed mostly to get the thoughts swirling inside an outlet.

"I don't know Ruby, I don't know. Is Cora supposed to be nice, now that she has her heart back and all?"

Her eyes remained on her fingers, her thumb nail tracing the index finger's nail.

"After Gold I guess only Regina knows about hearts and magic. Regina..." Emma's mind switched gears almost instantly, "Maybe I should have just kept quiet you know. Sometimes this cocky hero-complex gets to my head. What did I expect, I'd make some weird heroic declaration and she'd run into my arms and then we'd be some sort of super couple fighting crime by now. She thinks I'm running on some sort of emotional trip."

Red bit her lip as she looked at Emma's fingers nervously drumming on the chair. Aren't you though, she wondered.

"Emma, you can come off a little strong. I mean going from saying how hot she looks in skirts a year ago to this is a little on the extreme side." A lot.

Emma let out a mini growl of frustration, "I know but, God, watching Neal break, filled with all these regrets of not reaching out to his dad even when he knew he was in Storybrooke, when he had the chance... I don't want to be in that position Rubes."

"Are you sure..." Red struggled with her words wondering how Emma would react.

"It's a little complicated." Emma drummed her fingers on the chair's arm.

"I have time."

Emma's hands stilled as she straightened up, "Well you know, I always thought it was physical attraction, all our pent up frustration from fighting all the time. But when Henry ate the turnover it all changed. There was always a small voice in the back of my mind which said she doesn't really care for Henry but then I finally saw how much she loved him. It made me change the way I thought about her. It made me see how strong she was, how greatly she could love, and I.. I wanted to be a part of it."

Emma looked up and saw Red looking at her strangely, "What?"

"You said love", she said, her head tilted as she felt a stranger to when Emma had grown these feelings.

"Love", Emma snorted, "yeah, wrong person to talk about the L word. I thought I knew what it was once but I think I'm yet to figure it out. But this, what I feel for her, I don't know... it's pretty strong. I never in a million years could think my feelings would be returned, not until that night, and I screwed that up. And it feels like I've been screwing up ever since."

Red bent towards Emma, her hand on her shoulder, "Hey, you aren't screwing up. But you do need to take a step back. Things have been confusing lately, for everyone but more so for you. I'd feel better if you give yourself a break. I don't think you've rested a day ever since the curse broke."

"Yeah?"

"Maybe you're just trying to turn an infatuation into something meaningful because of the loss you watched Neal go through."

Emma tried to smile but uncertainty struck her for the first time, her hand went up to cover Red's.

"I don't know, sometimes it feels like everything is slipping away from my reach."

The phone rang through disrupting their conversation.

"Sheriff's office - oh, the Evil Queen?" Red elbowed Emma into attention, "Oh her car is just standing there? That does sound dangerous - Ok I'm sending the Sheriff, do not attempt to approach her if you value your life- you're welcome."

Red hung up as she recited the call, "The Queen has been sighted around the school doing spooky things like breathing and existing. You better go quickly before some fool tries to be a hero."

Emma got up grabbing her keys from the drawer but didn't move from behind the desk.

"Emma, go, but you know, slow down. Please." Red smiled making Emma shake her head. She threw the keys in the air, catching them with her other hand as the previous gave Red a mock salute, "On it ma'am."

Red smiled at the retreating figure. Even if Emma was on some emotional trip she was right about one thing, life was not meant to live with regrets. She left the station, adamant to drag Belle out of the dark library where she had been wallowing in for days. As the waitress walked away from the station, she wondered if it she would ever get used to the idea, the idea of the Saviour with the Evil Queen. She faltered mid-step, maybe not today.

1:49 pm

Regina could have sworn time in Storybrooke had stopped again because her infernal phone had shown the same time ten minutes ago.

Regina frowned as she dropped the phone in her lap. Her mother was taking her afternoon nap and Regina would have to hurry back before she woke up. Regina stifled a yawn as she waited for the school to get over, the past few nights had not been kind to Regina. She had been plagued with dreams, not dreams but memories which could fool any other person into believing they were inside a nightmare. Her encounter with Emma had brought them back, but Regina was resolute in not letting them get the best of her. She knew her mother had changed and she wouldn't let the saviour let her believe otherwise. There was no room for an otherwise.

Regina sighed shifting her focus to the school in front. The sun was barely visible above the gloomy building. A shiver passed through Regina's body at the thought of Henry not wearing enough warm clothes. Regina picked up her phone again to glance at the time and wondered who she could talk to, if she wanted to make sure Henry doesn't get away with poor excuses on how jackets slow him down. Her phone slipped past her fingers as the opposite door opened but her surprise turned to sheer annoyance as she saw that it was the same person her mind had been prompting her to call.

"Sorry."

Emma's voice bounced off inside the car as she closed the door. Emma didn't need to physically touch Regina to feel her tensing up. Her fingers were curled around the steering wheel languidly but the neatly manicured nails were digging in the leather cover. Regina fixed her eyes on the school.

"Well you've already barged in without permission, so it's a little late to apologise." Regina said in an even tone.

"Sorry that I let Henry skip school today." Emma said, biting her lip. Every time she had to make a parenting decision, she would always think what would Regina do and this was not something she would do. But Henry had been as moody as a ten-year old could be. Emma knew she was being extra cautious but Cora's presence scared her, scared her for Henry, so she had not yet agreed to his visit to his house. With the resultant mood he had adorned, Henry asking her for something made Emma so happy she would have said yes to a dirt bike had that been what he wished for. But the kid merely wanted to stay back from school.

Surprisingly when Emma expected rebuttal she got reprieve. Regina just sighed as both her hands slid down the wheel till they reached her lap, her fingers splaying on the phone, "Well then."

"Henry... the kid wanted to meet you."

"He has my number; surely he would have called himself if he did." Regina spoke strongly, almost accusingly.

"He's been kind of moping around, because of the whole Archie thing. He has been asking for you ever since we went to New York with Gold, you know before he... so yeah. I was trying to give you space but since you don't seem to be in any hurry I guess it's time I made the first move."

"So your patrol car being around my house every morning is giving me space?" Regina's words rolled out in frustration making Emma wince.

"So I am not allowed to be worried?"

"You have no right being worried. I don't know what you wish to achieve with this saviour charade, but frankly I don't have time for it. Now if that is all, please leave."

"Regina, I just wanted to check if you were ok."

"By which you mean unharmed."

"Hey, I am willing to give Cora the benefit of doubt, because of you. But I will continue worrying over you even when you want to keep acting all mighty and fucking indestructible." Emma left the car disgruntled. Fuck slow. Fuck.

Regina entered the house, her anger being spent on every object daring to come in her way. She slammed the door and threw the keys as she loosened her coat. What was Emma playing at? What was this, this sudden change of heart, what could she possibly gain from toying with Regina like that? This was nothing short of cruel, using the knowledge of her feelings and putting on this show. A show it was for there was no way Emma, one who had accused of a murder and then found Henry's birth father to team against her, would harbour any feelings for her, at least not positive ones. Regina stood by her decision, that kiss was a momentary lapse of judgement and this childish frivolity had lived past its due date.

"Regina, is that you?" the faint shout reached the kitchen just as Regina had opened the fridge.

"Yes mother", Regina replied back, regretting her loud actions earlier. She made her way up, breathing deeply a couple of times to ease the knot in her chest.

Regina knocked the door on the first floor of the road-facing room Cora had claimed, waiting for an answer. The door swivelled open shortly revealing Cora Mills, a dressed Cora Mills.

"Are you-" Regina noticed the black pinstriped pantsuit her mother was wearing, "going somewhere?"

"Well, Killian wanted me to visit his ship; he said he has quite a story to tell of how he returned from New York."

"Killian? Killian Jones? Hook?"

Cora nodded thrice amused by her daughter's surprise, "I didn't know if you'd be home soon so I told him you wouldn't be joining us. Did you have a good time with Henry dear?"

Regina was stunned but didn't show it on her face, "I thought it would be nice to see him and you were sleeping -" she explained before Cora cut in, "Oh, no worries dear."

Regina walked behind Cora, utterly confused at the lack of distrust she usually expressed towards Henry. Was it because of this present engagement with Hook? She had never thought of Killian as more than Cora's pawn, being used to make moves meant for distractions. She slowly climbed down the stairs following the older woman, wondering if their partnership had evolved into something more worthwhile.

Cora reached the foyer but a hand suddenly hooked her elbow, steering her towards the study. Regina stilled her mother in the middle before going towards the little closet.

"Now mother, it's very cold outside. And it will be considerably cooler around the docks. Are you sure you want to visit the ship, why don't you ask Killian to come here instead? I can make that pasta dish you enjoy so much."

Regina returned with a large black pea coat, draping it around Cora all the while giving her a pointed stare, was she really going out in the middle of October with the thinnest of blazers on.

"No sweetheart, I promised him I would come. And I wouldn't want to go back on a promise, especially to sweet Killian. He has been such a good friend."

Regina left the room but kept talking to her mother from the hall, "I know mother, I am not asking you to break your promise. But you don't need to go out of the house to meet Killian."

Regina's voice grew louder as she returned, "Now this is also the first time you're leaving the house after..." Regina looked unsurely at her mother before lifting the two scarves she'd got.

Cora laughed as she tapped the red one against the pure white one, "After I got my heart back. I know, and as much as I like you taking care of me, you have to let me out of the house sometime sweetheart."

Regina hung the white scarf on the nearby chair before wrapping the red around her mother's neck, "I think Red suits us both." Regina smiled before turning serious, "You know this was the reason I wanted you to learn how to use a phone. I am not going to take any more excuses now. The minute you come back you're getting one."

Cora stilled the nervous hands fighting the scarf around her neck, "Yes mother."

Regina smiled sheepishly, embarrassed at her coddling attempts, and she patted the scarf one final time, "Fine, go, go and enjoy."

Regina picked up the white scarf so she could put it away as Cora tightened the coat around her. The two women left the study and Regina turned to put back the scarf as Cora walked towards the door.

"When will you be back?" Regina called out as she looked at her own coat in the closet, wondering if she should atleast drop her mother off till the docks.

"Around 9 or 10 my dear." She opened the door before adding in, "If it makes you feel better I will ask Killian to escort me when I-"

Silk hit the wooden floor underneath when she heard her mother's voice abruptly plunge into silence. She rushed to check on Cora and felt all the blood in her body dry up when she saw her violently wiping her face which was dripping with water. The look of pure fury Cora had was the one Regina was all too familiar with but yet to witness since Cora's arrival in Storybrooke. That look alone caused the bile in her body to rise but Regina grounded herself when her eyes locked onto determined hazel ones, whose owner was standing at the door clutching white in his hand, a grim look on his face.

Regina's lips parted in surprise, "Henry?"