A/N: I do not own the rights to any song mentioned in this chapter. Memories are in Italics.

Emma got onto the train and found her seat. She stared out the window and watched as people moved to and from the terminal. People were greeting others as they got off the train, hugging and smiling. Others seemed to be saying goodbye with hugs and tears and strong pats on the back.

She thought about what Ray had said and it bothered her. He didn't know anything about her. How could he be so sure that everything would work out?

She scoffed as she pulled her music player from her jacket pocket. She put her earbuds in and cranked the music up as she closed her eyes.

"Are you dating me or my dad?"

Emma smiled at Regina as she returned the two plates she carried to the counter, "It's just us eating pie and staring at the fountain."

"What do the two of you talk about while you're out there?" Regina asked taking the plates from the counter and putting them into a bin to wash later.

"Just stuff." Emma told her, "I mean I've learned a lot in the last 2 months."

Regina glared at her, "He better not be telling you stories about me."

Emma smiled then headed to the door, "See you later."

Two months she'd been in Storybrooke now. She'd found a job teaching music at the school and managed to get herself an apartment. She was dating Regina, spending afternoons with Henry eating pie and talking and she'd go to the dinner at the Mills house every Sunday evening.

But two months turned into ten and the routine was starting to wear on Emma. She started skipping dinners. Regina would tell her that Henry would ask where she was and teaching "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to 6 years olds had lost its appeal.

Storybrooke had lost its appeal.

Early one morning she sat down by the docks and watched as a shipping boat left the harbor.

Regina sat down next to her, "What are you doing up so early?"

Emma looked at her, "I couldn't sleep and I didn't want to wake you."

"Something on your mind?"

Emma took the woman's hand in hers then stared out at the water, "No."

Regina looked at her, "Please Emma, tell me what's going on. You've been acting strange for weeks now."

"I'm tired." Emma said quietly.

"Then come back to bed." Regina said to her with a tug at her hand.

Emma looked at her, a tear rolled down her cheek.

"That's not what you meant." Regina said quietly.

And Emma shook her head no.

"Let's go somewhere, get away from Storybrooke for a while." Regina said to her.

"Then what?" Emma asked, "We'll be back here and back to the same routine."

Emma let go of Regina's hand and stood up, "It's the same thing day after day, and nothing changes in this town. The people, the places. It's all the same thing."

She turned to look at Regina, "Don't you ever get tired of it?"

Regina stood up and went to her, "It's my life Emma, so no I don't get tired of it."

Emma looked at her and saw the sadness that crept across her face.

"I'm going back to bed." Regina said then turned and Emma watched her walk away.

Take a piece of my heart
And make it all your own
So when we are apart
You'll never be alone…

Emma hit the skip button on her player. She couldn't listen to the whole song, not anymore. It reminded her of too much. She didn't even know why she kept the song on her music player.

Emma and Regina stood in the kitchen of the bakery having yet another argument.

"I just don't want to go to dinner, why is that so hard for you to understand?" Emma asked Regina.

"You've missed 3 dinners in a row." Regina said to her.

"So what?!" Emma said, her voice rose, "Are they mandatory now?"

"Why are you acting like such an asshole?" Regina asked.

Meanwhile out front, Tina was helping customers and smiling as the two women could be heard arguing.

"Nice, just nice!" Emma said, "I'm an asshole because I don't want to have dinner with your parents!"

Tina came through the doors, "You two want to keep it down?"

"Butt out Tina!" Emma said to her.

"Hey!" Regina said, going to defend her friend but Tina held up a hand.

She stepped up to Emma, "Listen, you may have half the town kissing your ass and thinking your shit don't stink but I know you Emma, I know you're kind and I've had you pegged from the start."

"What the fuck does that even mean?" Emma asked her.

"It means stop hurting my fucking friend or you're going to regret it." Tina threatened.

Emma glanced around the now moving train at all the people who sat near her. A tired looking woman with 3 kids who were practically bouncing off the wall was 3 seats down and across from her. A man in a business suit sat next to a pretty, young blonde woman Emma guessed was not his wife.

She turned slightly to her left to see an old couple sitting close to each other as they held hands. The old man would lean over whisper something in the woman's ear and she would chuckle.

Emma looked around. Everyone on this train had some kind of story to tell and she couldn't help but think if anyone wondered what her story was.

Emma knew her story wasn't always filled with great moments. Sometimes she faltered and sometimes she made things worse for herself.

"It's was so nice of you to join us for dinner tonight." Cora said to Emma as they all sat in the living room having coffee and dessert.

"Yeah I'm sorry I haven't been around lately." Emma said to her then took a small sip of her coffee.

"Has work been keeping you busy?" Cora asked.

"Actually not really. It's not that hard teaching the kids to play the recorder or tambourine." Emma told her, "They kind of just do what they want and make a lot of noise."

Henry chuckled at this then took a big bite of his slice of peach pie.

"Perhaps there's a different class you can teach at the school." Cora said, "Something a little more challenging for you."

"Actually I got job offer yesterday." Emma said to her.

"Oh that's wonderful." Cora said, "Somewhere in town?"

"Um," Emma glanced over at Regina before looking back at Cora, "No it's in San Francisco."

"What?" Regina asked surprised. She'd been quiet during dinner and this was the first time she spoke up during dessert.

Emma looked at her, "It's at San Francisco State University. I was going to tell you."

"Really?" Regina asked with a tone.

"Maybe we shouldn't talk about this here." Emma said then turned and smiled politely at Cora.

Emma thanked Cora and Henry for dinner before she and Regina left.

They didn't say a word to each other as Regina drove them to the bakery. They went upstairs and Regina turned on the lights. She then went to the fridge to get something to drink.

"So, you're not going to talk to me?" Emma asked her.

Regina unscrewed the cap to her bottled water and took a sip then looked at Emma, "How did you get a job offer all the way across the country?"

"I applied for it."

Regina scoffed, "What the hell Emma?"

She set her water bottle down on the counter, "I know you've been unhappy lately but you can talk to me, tell me what's going on."

"I can't." Emma said, her shoulders slumped.

"Why not?" Regina asked.

"Because I don't even know what the hell is going on." Emma told her, "I feel restless. I feel like I'm suffocating in this town."

"So you think moving to San Francisco is going to help that?" Regina asked, "And what if you get bored there too?"

"And what about me Emma?" She asked, "I thought you … I thought you loved me."

Emma went to her and took her hands in hers, "I do love you Regina."

"But?"

"Come with me." Emma said to her, ignoring the question.

"What?" Regina asked.

"Come with me to San Francisco." Emma said.

"My family, my bakery, my life is here Emma." Regina said to her as she pulled her hands out of Emma's.

"You can start a new bakery there and we can come and visit your parents any time you want." Emma said getting excited about the idea.

"You expect me to give up everything I've worked hard for to go to San Francisco with you because you're bored with Storybrooke?" Regina asked her.

"It could be a new start for the both of us." Emma said to her.

"You are my new start Emma." Regina said, "I don't need or want anything else but that."

Emma didn't know what to say and Regina could see this.

She scoffed, "And well, I thought you felt the same way but I guess I was wrong."

"You weren't wrong." Emma told her, "I just…"

"When do you start the new job?" Regina asked, her tone was angry as she fought off tears.

"I haven't accepted it yet. I wanted to talk to you about it first." Emma told her.

"Oh…" Regina let out a bitter chuckle, "So nice of you to consider my feelings in this."

"Why did you even come to Storybrooke?" Regina asked.

"What?" Emma asked, confused by the question.

"Why did you come here if you weren't planning on staying?" Regina asked. She fought back hot tears that burned her eyes as she screamed at Emma, "Why did you let me fall in love with you if you weren't going to stay?!"

Emma grabbed Regina by the shoulders, "Come with me then, please Regina come with me." She begged.

Regina pulled away from her, "I told you I can't do that."

She turned away from Emma, trying to calm herself down.

"What am I supposed to do Regina?" Emma asked her, "What do you want me to do?"

Regina turned and looked at her. Defeat was etched all over her face, "Do whatever you want, Emma. It's what you're going to do no matter what I say."

The memory and the motion of the train made Emma queasy. She stood up quickly and looked around till she found the bathroom. She rushed to it and got inside just in time.

After throwing up, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her clammy and pale reflection stared back at her.

She rinsed out her mouth then left the bathroom and returned to her seat. She rested her head against the cool glass of the window and closed her eyes.

"Hi."

Emma opened her eyes and turned to see a little boy with light brown hair and blue eyes standing near her, a smile on his face.

"Hi." She said back to him.

"You look gross." He said to her and she chuckled.

"Thanks." She said to him, "I feel gross."

"Benny, come over here, don't bother the nice lady."

Emma looked to see it was the tired looking women who'd called after her son.

"I hope you feel better." He said to her before he skipped back over to his mother and sat down.

Emma closed her eyes again and took in a deep breath. When she opened them Benny was standing by her again.

"Mom said you might need this." He said and held out a juice box for her.

Emma took the box, "Thank you." She said to him then looked over at the mother and gave a nod of thanks to her.

She took the plastic off the tiny bendy straw and after multiple tries finally punctured the straw through the box top and took a long sip of the apple juice. She sat back, put her music back on, sipped and watched the landscape zip by her.

She spent two night talking, arguing and crying with Regina but they couldn't work things out. Nothing Emma said made Regina feel better and nothing Regina said could convince Emma to stay.

They were both tired of fighting.

Regina realized there was no use trying anymore.

"Leave." She demanded.

Emma hesitated.

Regina turned to look at her, tears in her eyes, "Just leave Emma."

And that night she did.

There were no goodbyes and the only thing she left behind was a broken heart.

Loving can hurt
Loving can hurt sometimes
But it's the only thing that I know
When it gets hard
You know it can get hard sometimes
It is the only thing that makes us feel alive.

The music played softly in her ears as the train made its scheduled 1-hour stop to load and unload passengers.

Emma decided to brave the rain as she jogged from the train to the terminal. She went inside and hit up the snack machine. She popped open a bag of potato chips and stretched her legs by walking around the terminal.

She spotted a payphone and had to resist the urge to call Regina again. She left the temptation behind as she ran back through the rain and boarded the train.

When she got back to her seat she noticed that the little boy from earlier, Benny was asleep in her spot. His head rested against the window, his tiny mouth let out a small snore.

Emma turned to look over at his mother who was cradling a sleeping baby.

"I'm sorry." She mouthed to Emma.

Emma gave her a little, 'it's okay' wave and sat quietly across from Benny.

She turned her music up and eventually fell asleep.

San Francisco felt like a breath of fresh air to Emma. A part of her was thrilled to be somewhere new starting over while the other part of her, the biggest part missed Regina.

The temporary housing the university provided her was modest, nothing too flashy and what little she had she made due with. She took the weekend to get settled in making her apartment look more livable.

Sunday night, the night before she started her teaching job she sat down on her bed and a sudden wave of sadness hit her.

She was nervous and excited about her new job, about teaching what she loves to other people and yet the one person she wanted to share her excitement with wasn't there with her.

Emma sighed heavily then grabbed her cellphone and dialed Regina's number. Her thumb hovered over the send button for what seemed like forever before she chickened out and turned off her phone. She tossed it on the bed next to her. What right did she have to miss Regina when she was the one that left?

The train chugged forward and even though Emma was lost in her dreams, her journey back to Regina continued.