Emma stood there, not even sure she had heard Regina right. She felt like her brain had short-circuited.
"What did you do?" she heard Henry say.
What had she done?
She saw the front door was still hanging part way open. "Regina!" she called out as she went running. She ran down flights of steps not bothering to wait for an elevator. Once she reached the street level though, she saw no sign of Regina. She jogged up the street to see if she could catch a glimpse of her.
"Fuck," she swore. Regina was gone.
She took the elevator back up to the apartment and found Henry on the phone.
"Is that her?" she asked, but Henry was already hanging up.
"I kept getting the voicemail. What did you do?"
"What hotel is she staying at?"
"I don't know. She never said the name. What happened? Why did she run out like that? Did she say she loved you?"
"Yes," Emma said. "She … we have to find her. Did she say anything about the hotel she was staying at? Anything that will help us find her? Anything you can remember could help."
"I don't know. She said she had a good view of the city. Um, the high ceilings in the lobby reminded her of how high the ceilings are in castles. She said we could order room service. I don't know. I did most of the talking yesterday when I showing her places. I think she said it was maybe 25th Street, but that doesn't sound right."
Emma bit her lip. She needed to find Regina, and find her fast. She had to fix this. "Give me your phone," she said. She figured there was a chance Regina would answer if she saw it was Henry calling and zero chance if she saw it was Emma.
The phone rang, but went directly to voicemail. She tried not to swear as she message prompt came on. "Regina, it's Emma. Please call me or Henry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean … what I said I didn't mean it. I just … please I need you to call. Just call and tell me where you are at and I will be right over. Please we need to talk."
She hung up the phone feeling like even more of an idiot. What had she even said to Regina? She was so angry she had said the first hurtful things that came to mind. Why had she done that? Henry was just as much Regina's child as hers, maybe more so since Regina had actually raised him. She had to make things right.
"Get your computer," she said to Henry. "We have to start calling hotels to find her."
"What are you going to do when we find her? I heard you yelling at her."
Emma bent down in front of him and took his hands in her. "I know. I screwed up. I thought, well, it didn't matter what I thought. I didn't know she had feelings for me. If I had then none of this would have happened. But this is on me. I said things I should never have said and I can only hope your mom will forgive me; that you will forgive me. I am asking you to trust me that I don't want to hurt her. I have to find her. She and I need to talk, to sort all of this out. Please, will you help me?"
"What hotels do we call?"
"All of them until we find her."
…..
Emma cursed the New York traffic as she made her way through the city to 45th Street. It had taken forever it seemed to find the right hotel. Each time she called one and asked for Regina Mills she got disheartened when they said no one of that name was staying there. Then Henry lucked out when he called The Roosevelt. They had rung Regina's room but hadn't gotten an answer. Emma left immediately. She made Henry stay at the apartment, which he argued about, but this was a conversation she needed to have with Regina alone.
The entire drive over she kept thinking about Regina's declaration of love. She had no idea there were feelings there on Regina's part. She had spent the better part of her time in Storybrooke thinking about the mayor. At first it was purely impure thoughts, but as she got to know her and saw the love Regina had for Henry, she found her feelings for Regina grew into something else.
When she figured there was no hope for anything close to a future with Regina she decided to come back to New York. It would be easier if she didn't have to see her all the time. When Regina argued with her about staying, it was clear that she only wanted Emma to stay because she wanted Henry to stay.
If Regina had said something, anything, she would never have come back here. But she knew Regina wasn't to blame. She was. She was the coward who had left.
It took her nearly an hour to get to the hotel. She felt like fate was fighting her as she got caught by traffic lights, slow drivers and even had to reroute around an accident. She got to the front desk. "I am here to see a guest. Regina Mills."
The woman typed into the computer. "I am sorry; Miss Mills is no longer a guest here."
"What? No. When did she check out?"
"I am not allowed to give out that kind of information."
"Please. I am begging you. I am not some crazy person or stalker. I just need to find her. Look, look I can prove it," she said pulling out her phone and calling up the camera roll. "See here, is Regina with our son Henry at the park, and here is one of the three of us that my friend Ruby took, and here is Regina speaking at a council meeting, and this one, this one is just Regina. I took it while she wasn't looking. See the baby she's holding, that's my baby brother Neal. This is my family, our family. I need to find her."
"I am sorry ma'am I can't give out that information."
Emma backed away. She started walking out; feeling like the world had closed in on her.
"Hey," one of the staff guys said to her. "I couldn't help but over hear you up there. I carried Miss Mills' luggage down to the car maybe 25 minutes ago. She was a good tipper so I remembered. Great pair of legs too, which helped with the memory. Anyway, I asked her where she was going and she said she was headed home. I hope that helps."
"It does. Thank you so much."
"Good luck."
….
Emma got home quicker this time – figured she thought. She burst into the apartment to a waiting Henry. "Pack a bag, we're going to Storybrooke."