The rain came in heavy that evening, following a stunning sunset that painted the sky with reds and oranges. It reminded Emma of the sunsets she would see when she was in the southwest part of the country and it made her miss it just a little bit. The rain seemed to have patiently waited for the sunset to have its moment before roaring in with its full force.

The rain made the roads a mess and the storm knocked out power to almost half the town. One of the repair trucks heading out to deal with a knocked out transformer slid off the road into a tree. The driver had to be rushed to the hospital and the truck towed out of the roadway.

Emma sat in her patrol car, watching the rain pelt the windshield. She was soaked, the raincoat she had been wearing hadn't protected her from the rain very well, especially when it had been coming in sideways. She had run towards the cab of the wrecked truck and found the door couldn't be opened, the frame had been bent and smashed so badly. She peered in through the window and saw a man sitting in the driver's seat, staring straight ahead.

"Bill! It's Emma! Can you hear me?"

He didn't respond and it was then that she saw the blood.

She shivered at the memory as she sat in her car. Things could turn on a dime, you could be having a perfectly nice day, the weather turns and you're fighting for your life in the hospital. She knew it was beyond selfish to make this about her, but she couldn't help it. What if it had been her car that had slid off the road? If that happened a year from now, she could be leaving a baby without a mother.

She was filthy, wet, and desperate for a warm shower. But she didn't want to go home. She didn't know what she wanted. She looked at her cell phone and saw it had no signal. Not surprising, the cell phone towers were probably dead. The police radios however were working, and she radioed back to the station to see if there were any more incidents and an ETR on the power.

"No more wrecks Sheriff, but the power is anyone's guess right now," came the response.

She nodded to herself and put her car into gear.

Power outages were not an issue at the Mills house. Regina could have dozens of candles lit with a snap of her fingers. She lit the fireplace too because what the hell? It drove the slight chill away and helped with the light. Everything was down, and the longer it went the more concerned she became. She didn't like the fact that she didn't know what was going on and the power had been out longer than she had expected.

Henry had a ridiculous headlamp he was using to read a comic book. Never used for camping as it was intended at least now it was finding some use. He was reading with the comic open on the floor in front of him by the fireplace when he saw a flash of red and blue lights through the window.

"Mom's here!" he shouted.

"Good," Regina replied, coming out of the kitchen. "She can tell us what's going on with the power." She pulled the front door open before Emma could even knock.

Emma dropped her hand to her side and swallowed. "You guys ok?"

"We're fine." Regina noticed that even though Emma was in a rain jacket with the hood pulled up she appeared soaked to the bone. "Did you decide to jump in every puddle you could find? You're soaked, get inside." She pulled her over the threshold and closed the door against the pelting rain.

"What the hell is going on with the power? The storm isn't that bad." Emma was dripping rainwater all over her hardwood floors and she surprisingly wasn't concerned.

"One of the repair trucks slid off the road. Bill…Bill Boyen is in the hospital, he was in shock when I found him. He was bleeding a lot, I…I gotta get out of these clothes. Are you ok?" she asked again.

"We're fine, Emma." She started unfastening the the black and yellow police slicker so she could slip it off Emma's shoulders. The woman was clearly rattled by Bill's accident. She had dealt with accidents before, but something about this one must have affected her. She helped her take the jacket off and hung it on the coat rack.

"Let's go upstairs, I have something you can wear."

In a candle lit bathroom Regina helped Emma gather the towels and clothes she needed to get dry and warm. After providing her with clothes and towels she left the bathroom, allowing Emma her privacy. She didn't know why but she felt uneasy. She sat on her bed and waited for Emma to emerge. The younger woman was clearly upset by what had happened, maybe it had been too much—talking about babies in the afternoon and then a life altering accident hours later.

Emma came out of the bathroom, looking a bit less like the drowned rat she did walking in. Her hair was still wet but brushed out. She was wrapped in a terrycloth robe and wearing a set of Regina's silk pajamas.

"Feel better? Sit down, tell me what happened," she said, patting the bed beside her. She took the towel from Emma and scooted behind her after she sat down so she could help towel off her hair.

As Emma recounted the incident and Regina toweled off her hair it occurred to both of them that they rarely, if ever touched each other. Neither know why exactly but it had always seemed like it would be too…much. Too something.

"We need to get a damn guardrail put up around that corner," Regina said. "In bad weather it's too dangerous."

Emma nodded. "It doesn't take much, really," she said quietly. Her ennui was beginning to lessen. Dry clothes and talking to Regina was working on her spirit. Regina didn't really need to towel her hair off but they both seemed to be enjoying it so she said nothing.

"Let's go downstairs, I was going to make some cocoa before you turned up," Regina said. She consciously chose at that moment to lay her hand on Emma's shoulder. As she did a small flare of magic flashed pink light, made all the more noticeable by the low lighting in the room. She pulled her hand back and looked at with raised brow, like it had somehow misbehaved.

"That was…that felt nice." A warmth had flooded her and tickled down her spine when Regina had touched her.

Regina didn't comment, feeling perplexed that her magic seemed to have a mind of its own. She rarely had experienced a loss of control of her magic and it startled her. She folded her hand into a fist and thrust it in her pocket, like it was a dangerous thing that needed to be put away.

They went downstairs and Emma waited with Henry as Regina made the hot cocoa.

"How are you going to make anything with no power?" Emma asked from her seat on the couch.

"Some of us aren't limited to microwaves, Miss Swan," Regina shouted back from the kitchen.

Emma decided she was comfortable not knowing what Regina was up to and happily took the hot cocoa when it was handed to her. She had to admit, she was more than tickled that Regina seemed to be doting on her. No one had really doted on her much in her life and it made her feel a sense of comfort that she wanted to grab onto.

Henry didn't want any hot chocolate, he wanted to read in peace and left his mothers to go to his room.

"It's late anyway, I'm gonna get in bed."

"With your headlamp?" Emma smirked.

"With my headlamp." He stood from his seat on the floor by the fire and stretched before heading upstairs. He stopped before exiting the room and gave Emma a quick glance.

"G'night, love you Moms."

Regina's had been placing her hot chocolate on the coffee table and jerked her head up in surprise. Henry usually didn't say her loved her before going to bed. He gave her a little smile before shuffling off.

"Well, I made this just for us anyway. It has some adult ingredients," she said before sitting down on the couch.

Emma took a sip and could not even stop her eyes from rolling back in her head. "Oh my God, what is in that?" she breathed, cradling the mug in her hands.

"A little hot chocolate, a bit of peppermint schnapps, some Kahlua." She settled back into the couch and took a sip from her mug.

"This is perfect, thank you. And thank you for, you know, taking care of me."

"I just loaned you some dry clothes," she said, clearing her throat.

"You dried my hair, Regina. I knew you liked me," she smiled.

Regina gave a small chuckle. "Well, maybe a little bit."