Thanks for the reviews! Glad you guys are enjoying the ride so far. Here's chapter 8 :)

They woke up early the next morning, as Henry and Snow had to go to school. Emma watched as they both rushed around haphazardly. She chuckled as they'd nearly collided several times as they each ran back and forth to different ends of the apartment, gathering the items they'd need for the day. Emma sat leisurely on a kitchen stool, simply observing the havoc.

"So what will you do all day?" Snow asked, while she waited for Henry to tie his shoes.

"Eh…I don't know, probably walk around town, see people," Emma answered nonchalantly.

"You can come with us and be my aide for the day," Snow suggested.

"Nah," Emma shook her head, "no offense, but the only kid I like is this one," she said as she messed his hair.

"Alright, suit yourself!" And with that, they were off.

Emma took her time getting ready. She took a long, hot shower which came as a much needed indulgence, as she was used to sleeping in and only having time for a quick and cold one. The slight chill in the air made it ideal for her leather jacket. She loved days like this when it teetered between summer and fall.

Granny's was full of the usual takers. Ruby smiled when Emma walked in the door. She dropped her current order to grab her a hot chocolate and bear claw. Emma took off her jacket and sat at the counter in front of what Ruby had brought out for her.

"I thought you would have been back to Boston by now," Ruby said as Emma took a sip of her cocoa.

"Yeah, Regina called last minute," she answered, breaking off a piece of the donut, "she needed me to stay longer."

"Ooohh, I see," Ruby beamed, raising her eyebrows.

"What?"

Ruby put down her tray and sat next to Emma. "I guess she needed extra time with…". She cut herself off, thinking better of suggesting to Regina's ex-lover that she was seeing someone new.

"Extra time with who, Ruby?" Emma demanded. "What do you know?!"

"Nothing!" Ruby declared. "It was just a guess." Emma raised her eyebrows at this.

"What?" Ruby continued. "You don't think it's possible that Regina took a long weekend to get laid?"

"It's possible," Emma let out. It was possible. Regina wouldn't date anyone else from Storybrooke. It made perfect sense. It was just a possibility that Emma hadn't thought of yet. And it was definitely one that she didn't want to entertain.

Ruby sighed. "I thought you'd be happy if she was moving on," she said. "Not happy…but happy for her." She paused to laugh. "And if she's getting some, then she'll be less of a bitch to you when you guys have to talk about Henry."

"Ruby!" Emma let out, making her step back. Realizing she had raised her voice a bit too much, Emma dug into her wallet and threw down more than enough cash to cover her meal. Feeling somewhat ashamed, she got up and quickly left the diner.

She just needed some fresh air to roll off the racing thoughts. And a cigarette. Her pace was quick as she walked out of the downtown area, inhaling and exhaling the smoke at a speed that matched her gate. Before long and without conscious planning, Emma found herself walking up Mifflin Street.

There it was. The white house stood majestically on top of the peak of the road. Emma had rushed here without thinking. It was as if she thought she'd catch Regina with another person. Or maybe, if she walked fast enough, she could walk back in time to when this place was her home. An anxiety built in her stomach and worked its way to her chest. She remembered feeling the same way shortly after they'd returned from Neverland, as she stood in the same placed, looking up at the house.

Her hands were shaking when she went to ring the bell. As she waited on the porch, she instantly regretted her decision to come. She didn't know what she was doing. They weren't friends exactly. But what were they? After sharing a cabin on the Jolly Rodger, saving Henry, and well, everything, they weren't enemies or strangers either.

"Ms. Swan, what are you doing here?" Regina asked when she opened the door.

Emma froze for a moment and stuttered a bit. "I..uh…I," she began, only to see Regina raise her eyebrows in confusion.

"You…what, Ms. Swan?" Regina asked, leaving her mouth opened at the end, waiting for Emma to fill in the gap.

"I wanted to see how you were doing," Emma finally said. "How's the wound?"

Regina touched her hand to her chest, where Emma could see the slightly protruding area from the bandages underneath her shirt. "It's healing," she said, "slowly but surely."

"Good, good," Emma let out as she fidgeted nervously with her hands. There was a long pause that dragged on. Finally, feeling that she had missed her chance, Emma filled the silence. "Well, if you need anything…"

"I know where to find you," Regina said, finishing her sentence. She shot Emma a warm smile that was returned with a nod. Emma took this as her cue to leave. As she turned to walk down the steps, she heard Regina begin to speak.

"Emma…"

Emma turned back to see the brunette reach out.

"What happened in Neverland…on Hook's ship…"

Emma grew nervous when Regina mentioned their time together. They hadn't spoken of it. Emma had assumed it was a moment of weakness on the mayor's part—that she wanted to forget it.

"Regina," she cut the brunette off, "it's okay. It was an in the moment kinda thing. No worries."

As soon as she heard the words, Regina pursed her lips and looked away from Emma for a moment. She took a small pause to collect herself, which of course went unnoticed by the oblivious savior. She turned back to Emma, a stone hearted queen.

"Good," she answered, "I wouldn't want there to be any confusion between us."

"Right," Emma said, stuttering on the consonant. And with that clarification, Emma left the house. She left without seeing Regina's upturned lip. She didn't see her hesitant pose, one foot forward toward the woman she wanted desperately to embrace. And she left before seeing a stone heart crack as Regina crumbled upon her porch, burying her head in her hands.

Emma nearly jumped back when she heard another car in the driveway. It was much too early for Regina to be home. As she reached the end of the path, she was surprised to see Kathryn standing before her.

"Emma!" she gasped, taken aback as well. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh," she paused, thinking fast to come up with a good excuse. "Henry forgot his math book…I came to grab it."

"Oh, right."

"What are you doing here?" Emma asked her. She looked down to see Kathryn was holding a bag from the pharmacy.

"Regina asked me to drop these off for her," Kathryn answered, referencing the bag. "Henry's allergy medication," she quickly added, raising the bag.

"Oh, I could take them if he needs them…"

"NO!" Kathryn shot back eagerly, throwing Emma off a bit. Kathryn quickly recovered. "I mean, Regina gave me specific directions," she said, smiling a bit. "You know how she gets."

Emma chuckled. "Yeah, don't we all." Emma stopped when she heard the alarm on her phone. "Shit," she said, turning the alarm off, "Henry gets out of school in ten minutes. I gotta run!"

"Alright," Kathryn said, as Emma ran down the path. She called out to her. "Emma!"

"Yeah?" Emma shouted back.

"It's nice to see you in town again!"

The two exchanged warm smiles before Emma hustled down to the school.

When she arrived at the school, Henry eagerly jumped up from the bench he had been sitting on, and raced toward her. He embraced Emma with a hug that nearly made her fall backward.

"Why are you so excited to see me, kid?" she asked as she smoothed over his messy hair with her hand.

"I just miss when you used to pick me up all the time!"

She choked a bit. "Well, I'm here now. What do you say we grab a snack at Granny's?" Before she could even finish the sentence, her son had raced ahead, already making his way toward the dinner. She rolled her eyes and hollered at him to wait up for her.

Ruby smiled when she saw Henry and Emma come in the door. She didn't need to grab them menus. After school snack was hot chocolate and French fries, much to Regina's disapproval. She always told Ruby to get Henry some fruit instead, but when it was just him and Emma, the fruit stayed in the kitchen. It was their little secret.

"So how did your report go?" Emma asked, as Ruby set down their mugs.

"Really well," Henry answered. He scooped up a big dollop of the whipped cream with his finger. "Everybody loved hearing a new story."

"I bet they did." Emma mimicked the same gesture, sucking the whipped cream off of her own index finger. "We'll have to be sure to tell your mom that you did well. You know, so she actually thinks I'm a responsible parent."

Henry chuckled at this. Emma wasn't sure if his laughter was because of Regina's overall character or if he thought that the idea of Regina thinking Emma could be responsible was ludicrous.

"Do you know when mom will be home?" Henry asked.

"Five o'clock sharp, so don't eat too many fries because she'll probably be making dinner."

"Probably not," Henry answered as he grabbed a handful of fries just as Ruby set the plate down.

"What do you mean, 'probably not'?" Emma asked, as she squirted some ketchup on the side.

"Well," he mumbled with his mouth full, "she's usually pretty tired after these weekends. We usually get take-out when she comes home."

Oh my God, she is having sex weekends out of town—Emma thought—no wonder why she's tired.

"Oh," Emma said, grabbing a fry, "she's gone out of town before recently?"

"Yeah, usually Kathryn watches me."

"How frequently would you say?"

He thought for a minute. "I guess once or twice a month…maybe for the last six months?"

Six months. That's longer than we were together—Emma began to sweat—Relax, Swan. It's a long distance thing. Those never work.

There was a long pause between them as Henry chomped on his fries. Could she stoop so low as to ask her son for information? Did she want to even know?

"Henry?" she raised her voice hesitantly. He looked up. "Is…your mom…is she dating anyone?"

"Not that I know of," he answered nonchalantly, turning his attention back to his fries.

Like she would tell him. "Oh yes, dear, I'm going out of town this weekend to have rampant sexual escapades with my secret lover. Make sure you do your homework!"

Henry saw the worry register on Emma's face. "You still like her?"

"What? No!"

"My mom…yes you do! You still like her!" he insisted.

"Henry…," she tried, but her dismissal was no good.

"If you didn't, you wouldn't be so interested if she was dating anyone."

"Henry," Emma reasoned, "adult relationships are complicated. You may move on, and see other people. But you always think about your exes in a certain way…especially one that you share a child with."

Henry narrowed his eyes.

"It doesn't mean that you still love that person…it's just…" She paused. She didn't have a way to complete that sentence. Was it complicated? Did she still love Regina?

"Henry," Emma talked sternly, and she wasn't sure if her own tone was intended for him or herself, "the point is, it's complicated. But your mom and I…we are never getting back together. You need to get that through your head."

Henry shrugged a bit and sipped his hot chocolate. Emma did the same. The one thing she didn't miss about Storybrooke was having to hash out this same old conversation. With Henry. And herself.