It was well past noon when Regina finally gave up. She had tried hard to not to think about what had happened that morning, but her mind kept drifting to exactly that.

She shouldn't be surprised; it wasn't an unknown feeling for her and well, they had only spent a few days together, but it still hurt. It hurt the look on Emma's face as she had said it, how it changed very slightly, enough for Regina to notice. She knew she shouldn't be mad at Emma, after all it wasn't her fault she didn't reciprocate; one can't help that.

But Regina couldn't help but feel mad at her. She was mad at Emma for repeating over and over how she would help her get her happy ending, how she cared, how she was there for her. She had said she wanted a relationship with Regina and then she had just drifted away as soon as she had gotten closer. As soon as the word 'love' had emerged. Maybe that was all for Emma; she really cared and wanted to help her, but didn't go beyond that, and she had probably realised it when Regina had said it out loud.

Regina sighed and lowered her head, her fists in her eyes trying to hold back the stupid tears she felt coming. Of course she wouldn't be love like that. Of course she would be rejected. Of course she wanted something out of her reach. It didn't matter what it was, she would never have what she wanted.

She tried to focus on something else, thinking about Henry; at least he was coming back into her life. Thanks to Emma.

Regina growled and threw the pen onto the desk. Then, she heard her phone ringing and stared at the screen, where Emma's name was blinking. She considered not picking up; she didn't want to do something she would regret later, but swallowed and cleared her throat before picking up. "Miss Swan."

"Uh hey Regina." The Mayor could tell Emma was taken aback by the sudden formality. "I have to ask you something."

Regina held her breath and waited her to go on, "Could you pick Henry up from my apartment and stay with him for a while? I'm a little caught up here with a certain dwarf and I don't know how much this will take me; I wouldn't want him to stay alone all day."

The Mayor swallowed, "Sure, okay."

"Okay."

There was a silence on the line, and before her mouth betrayed her, Regina hung up without saying goodbye, crashing her phone down on her desk.

Across town Emma sighed as she heard Regina hanging up. She had had the intention to talk about something else, but as soon as she heard her 'Miss Swan', she knew she couldn't do it on the phone; she didn't have the guts to do that.

Emma sighed and leaned her head on the steering wheel, but she didn't have much time to think because she heard Granny yelling at Leroy across the street, kicking him out of the café. She left her phone on the car and made her way towards the dwarf, shaking Regina out of her head.

It almost felt like the old times. Henry was on Regina's desk reading some comics, while she was on the sofa of the study going through some files, checking on him from time to time. It felt good, until the sound of the doorbell interrupted their peace.

"It must be Emma," Henry said with a smile.

Regina sighed and stood up, leaving the files on the small table in front of her while Henry collected his books in his bag. When she opened the door she found Emma, as she expected with a smile on her face. Both of them opened their mouths to speak, but Henry appeared on the door.

"Hey Emma. Maybe you could stay for dinner? We can have another movie night," he proposed looking up at his adoptive mother.

Regina looked down as she placed her hand on his shoulder. "I'd love to," she started. Then she glanced up at Emma and her lips drew a big fake smile, "But I'm sure Emma has a lot of things to do."

The Sheriff stared at her, and read in her eyes she didn't want to talk to her in front of Henry, so she sighed and nodded, "Yeah, I gotta finish some stuff."

Henry pouted but still accepted it, not feeling the tension between his mothers, and waved Regina goodbye before walking to the car. They watched him and when he entered the car, Emma turned to talk to Regina, but all she found was the gold number 108 shinning under the late sun of the evening.

Regina stretched her back, and she made a face when she heard all her back bones cracking as she did so. She had stayed at the study, doing all the paperwork she could find to do to try and keep her mind busy. She had been so deep into that, that she hadn't realised it was late, so she left everything tidy and made her way to her bedroom. Her mind started to drift to Emma when she heard two knocks on her door.

She paused, glancing at the clock; it was too late for someone to bother to come to her house unless it was Emma. Her heart raced, knowing that whatever would happen next, it would be determinant in their relationship, whatever it was.

As soon as she opened the door, she had no time to say anything. "Don't close the door. We need to talk, please," Emma said from the other side of the door frame.

Regina's lips pressed in a firm line as she heard those words, getting ready for the worst, but she still stepped aside and let Emma in. It took everything on her to close the door slowly, taking her time to turn and face her.

"Listen, I know what you think and I assure you it is not what you think," Emma started as soon as they were looking at each other.

"I'm pretty sure it is what I think, Miss—"

"Let me explain okay?"

"Please save it." Regina closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It took Emma by surprise the tone of her voice; she didn't sound angry, she just sounded disappointed and tired, and that made Emma's stomach twist. "I'm sorry for what I said; I shouldn't have. I thought this was more that what it seems to be and it is my fault to think so. But before you say anything else just save it. It is my fault to believe this could work but it's your fault if you lie to me into keep believing it."

"I'm not lying Regina."

The Mayor averted her eyes and smiled sadly, her voice breaking as she spoke, "I know you, and know you smiled at me to not make me feel bad, but I could see behind it."

"I assure you it's not like that."

Finally Regina looked into Emma's eyes. The Sheriff saw the tears threatening to fall and her chest plummeted, her own eyes beginning to water. "Then what is it Emma?"

The words caught up in Emma's throat. She felt a lump that couldn't let her tell the truth. She knew she had to, it was for the best, but after years of living like she had lived, she couldn't bring herself to admit the truth, even to herself. It hurt Regina and she could fix everything just by saying it out loud.

Instead, she opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came from it, and she hated herself for that. Regina nodded and hugged herself, lowering her gaze, "I think you should go."

"Regina please," she tried, hoping the other woman could read it in her eyes, but the Mayor was looking everywhere but her.

"You still have a friend in me, but let's just stick to that from now on."

Regina made her way upstairs, making her point clear and kind of hoped Emma called for her one last time. Instead, her heart sunk when she opened the front door closing behind her, leaving her alone.