It had been two days since Emma had been forced to move in with Charming and Snow. She had refused to speak to them and had still refused to talk to her mother. Regina was heart broken, she hated Emma being mad at her and she hated it even more that Emma wasn't with her. After Emma's disappearance she realized she hadn't had Emma's best interest in mind necessarily and she thought maybe Em would be safer with her birth parents for a while. But it hurt so much to be apart and it hadn't done much good.

"Regina." Snow says in desperation over the phone. "Tell me she's with you."

"Don't tell me you lost my daughter." Regina snarls.

"She….she wasn't in her room this morning." Snow admits. Regina looks at the clock, it's 5:00. "I went to wake her for breakfast around 8:00."

"That was nine hours ago!" Regina exclaims.

"I-I thought she went to you." Snow cries. Regina tries to calm herself down but she is mad that she can hardly breathe.

"I'll find her." The former queen says before hanging up without a goodbye.

Meanwhile Neal and Emma were sitting on a wooden pirate ship by the beach. Emma and her mother used to play at this park when Emma was a kid, she had some of her first memories from this place. Not that any of that mattered now, because mom had abandoned her and the Charmings hardly knew her. But Neal was different, he understood her in a way no one else could. He understood what it was like to come from a family with a such a dark and complicated history, and he understood why she loved her mother so strongly despite everything she had done in her past.

"My father...he's different." Neal tells Emma as they sit with their feet hanging off the edge. "It's like...the power is still important but the way he is with Belle and I…"

"I get it." Emma says with a small smile. "Like I know my mom has her dark magic, but with me...she'd never hurt a fly. People change, Neal."

"Yeah, I guess they do." Neal nods. "So why are you here then, Emma? Why aren't you fighting to go back home to Regina?"

"She let me go." Emma says looking sadly at the ground.

"No, letting you go would be letting you fall to another world all alone." Neal answers with a touch of bitter still in his voice. "She's trying to do what's best for you."

"Your father regrets what he did." Emma snaps back. They look at each other for a moment, silently daring the other to argue first. Neal sighs giving in.

"I know." He admits. "But sometimes its hard, I still hate that he did that. I may have forgave him but I'll never forget." Emma nods.

"My mother doesn't regret her past because it got her me." Emma tells her friend. "She doesn't even regret making me go live with the Charmings."

"Em," The two teens turn to see the mayor behind them. "Of course I regret it." Neal gives Emma a small smile before jumping to the ground. He waves to the two and races back home. Emma sighs, she didn't want to have this conversation right now. "Emma, I love you more than anything in this whole world."

"Then why did you make me go with THEM?" Emma demands with tears filling her green eyes.

"Emma, you ran off without telling me where you were going to anything!" Regina exclaims sounding afraid. "I had no idea what happened to you! You wanted it to be just us...and so do I, but Emma, that world no longer exists and I can't have you taking off like that."

"Your plan failed." Emma points out. Regina sighs knowing her daughter had a point.

"I see that." Regina says. "You have to go back."

"If you make me go back, I'll never forgive you." Emma threatens.

"Emma, they won't let me take you home with me. They're your parents." Regina replies repeating the words that Emma's biological father had said the night Emma disappeared.

"You don't really think that." Emma accuses, knowing when her mother was lying. "Why aren't you fighting for me!?"

"This is me fighting for you." Regina sighs sadly. "Now come on, we have to get you home."

Snow and Charming let out a sigh of relief when Emma and Regina enter the loft. Emma storms past them, despite their attempt to hug her. She mutters something neither of them catch but both know they probably don't want to know. They look at Regina's face and can see the devastation. She looked so broken and they knew it was because Emma had pulled away from her. Charming says something about checking on Emma and disappears out of the room.

"You found her." Snow points out.

"I did." Regina confirms quietly. "Next time check castle. The wooden ship at the park." Snow nods with a small but grateful smile. Regina's face cracks and suddenly tears slip from her eyes.

"Regina…" Snow doesn't know what to say.

"And if she...if it storms at night she'll wake up. She hates thunder." Regina is full on bawling now. "You have...have to make sure you make her hot chocolate wit-with cinnamon, it'll put her back to sleep. Sh-she likes to sleep in bu-but don't let it happen to-to often. Her fav-favorite food is lasagna. She...she sleeps with her ba-baby blanket even though, even though she won't a-admit it an-and she-" By now Regina can't talk. Snow surprises both of them by hugging the older women.

"I'll take care of her." Snow promises. Regina nods and pulls away. She wipes the tears away and clears her throat.

"Thank you."

A week later Emma had started to accept the fact that she wasn't going to live with Regina anymore. At least not right now. But that didn't mean she was going to just start playing happy family with Snow and Charming. In fact she was even more cold to them. Her only comfort was Neal. The two had gotten to be best friends and spent most of their time at the park talking. Neal and his father were working on their relationship and Neal liked to tell Emma about it. He also listened to her childhood stories about Regina.

"She used to sing to me." Emma would say.

"My father, Belle and I went to the beach." Neal would answer. The bonded over broken hearts and damaged pasts. Either way, the started leaning on each other. Without her mother around, Emma felt like Neal was all she had.

"What if things are never the same?" Emma asks the older teen one day.

"They won't." Neal says simply. "But that doesn't mean they have to be worse. Give change a chance."

Emma enters the loft and nearly passes out when she sees her mother sitting there with Snow and David. Why was she here? What was wrong? Emma could only imagine that it was going to be bad. Maybe her mother was giving Snow and David all rights to Emma. Would she do that? Did David and Snow make her? As if reading her thoughts Regina finally breaks the silence.

"It's okay Emma, but we need to talk." Emma nods and crosses the room to join the three adults at the kitchen table. "Emma my mother has found her way here."

"Okay…" Emma says looking at her mother for answers.

"She's a dangerous and cruel witch." Snow explains. Emma rolls her eyes. Snow thought everyone with magic was cruel and dangerous.

"She is." Regina confirms looking seriously at her daughter. "She believes love is weakness and she'll destroy it...given the chance."

"What does this have to do with me?" Emma asks in confusion.

"She'll go after you." David answers. "Because Regina...loves you."

"We can't protect you from her." Snow admits. Emma feels hopeful despite the terrifying situation.

"We've all talked." David says. "And we all agree, you'll be safest with Regina."

"I get to go home!?" Emma asks trying to hide her eagerness but failing.

"You do." Regina gives a small smile. "I will keep you safe from her." Emma leaps into her mother's lap and hugs her tightly.

"I know you will, Mommy. And I'm sorry I've been so mean to you." Emma says.

"It's okay my darling. Grab your things, we should head home. I've placed a protection spell around the house as well as one here." Regina answers. Emma nods and moves from her mother's embrace to grab the few things she'll need. Snow and David look worried. "I'll protect her, don't worry."

"I know this is her best chance." Snow says in a shaky voice. "But after what Cora did to Daniel...what if she hurts our daughter?"

"I won't let her." Regina says in a firm voice. Snow and David nod, even if they hated to admit it, they trusted Emma's life with Regina.

"I'm ready." Emma announce walking into the room. Regina smiles half heatedly. As happy as she was to have her daughter back, she was also petrified. Her mother was a cold woman and Emma had no idea what they could be up against.

A/N So Cora will be in the next chapter...any suggestions or predictions as to what will happen? -Kaila