"Did you always live here?" Emma asked, her head still resting on Regina's shoulder as they sat in the dark in front of the crackling fire.

"In Storybrooke?" Regina asked, as it took a moment for her mind to come back to the present. They'd been sitting in silence for so long, and Emma's close proximity had Regina taking an inward trip down memory lane, recounting every moment she'd spent with Emma in the past. "No. Not always."

Emma lifted her head to look at Regina, an all too familiar curious look in her eyes. "Where did you live before?"

Regina smiled and shook her head. "It's… not important. It was a lifetime ago… a different world, really. I can't go back, so I try not to think about it."

"Bad memories?"

Regina breathed out a small laugh. This might not be the Emma she remembered, but she certainly had the same knack for not knowing when she was pushing too far. "No, they aren't all bad. The best part of my life lives in those memories, but it's something I can't get back. Or, someone, really. Just a ghost now, I suppose."

"They died?"

"No. It's more complicated than that." Regina stared into the fire nervously, wondering how far into this conversation it would be safe to venture.

For her part, Emma seemed to consider Regina's words, tilting her head to the side as she thought about it. "So is that why you came here? To get away from this complicated someone?"

"No. But that's also complicated. It… I thought it would be different. It didn't quite work out the way I had hoped."

"This someone was supposed to come with you?" Emma suggested, raising a questioning eyebrow at Regina. "Start a new life in this… different world?"

Regina turned to look at Emma, who was still only regarding her with innocent curiosity. "How could you know that?"

Emma shrugged. "Lucky guess? I mean… it makes sense. The person isn't dead, but they also aren't here. If they were the best part of your life, and you weren't running away, then obviously they were supposed to come with you."

"She was," Regina agreed, looking away as she felt tears stinging at the corners of her eyes. No matter how painful it was to be separated from Emma, despite seeing her every day, she never let herself cry. She wasn't going to allow herself to grieve her loss, because if she did, she knew that would make it real. And if it were real, then she'd have to accept that Emma was lost to her forever.

She knew the curse breaking would be inevitable, and the wait would be the price she'd have to pay - the hole in her heart that Rumple had warned her about - but she couldn't let herself travel down the path that threatened to solidify her biggest fear: that once the curse broke, Emma still wouldn't want her.

"Sorry," Emma said, quietly, after Regina had remained silent for several moments, staring into the fire again. "I didn't mean to pick at old wounds. It's none of my business."

"It's fine," Regina said, though her voice was barely a whisper. "It's not your fault. Today's just… a hard day. It's the anniversary of the first time we met face to face."

"So I guess it's a good thing I got trapped here with you then," Emma said, a smile forming on her lips. "I can distract you, and you can save me from whatever guy my friends want to set me up with tonight… Except, I guess I've kind of been doing a terrible job at distracting you."

"Well, I'm not sitting at home drinking wine and listening to sad music, now am I?"

"True. But I think the storm takes all the credit for that."

"Hmm, maybe so, but if you weren't so set on registering that little yellow deathtrap sitting out in front of the garage into your name, I would have been sitting here in the dark, all alone."

"It's not a deathtrap," Emma said, laughing. "It's cute. I like it."

"Escarabajo amarillo."

"What?"

"It means yellow beetle."

"I didn't know you spoke Spanish," Emma said, giving Regina a look of surprise.

"I'm sure there's lots you don't know about me. But, I don't. Not really. I just knew someone who had a horse by that name, once."

"The same someone as..." Emma's voice trailed off, as she seemed to think better of going right back to the same subject again.

"You just can't help yourself, can you?" Regina asked, teasingly, and Emma laughed. "Maybe. But what I'd like to know is, why are you so interested in knowing about this someone?"

Emma shrugged. "I dunno. Talk to pass the time, right? It's just… interesting."

"Interesting?"

"Yeah. I didn't know you had a life."

"I don't know if I should be offended."

"I just mean… I just thought you were married to your job. You don't have any family here, and I never see you out anywhere. I've never seen you date anyone, which is kind of strange, because obviously you could."

"Could I?" Regina asked, unable to hide her smile. She was grateful for the darkness, which hid the eager excitement on her face.

"Yeah, I mean, why not? You're rich, and powerful, and… you know… like, attractive."

"You think I'm attractive?" Regina asked.

Emma let out a nervous laugh. "I mean… yeah. I'm not trying to be weird, just… you could have any guy… or I guess, woman? That you wanted. I always just kind of wondered why you… didn't."

"Ohh," Regina replied, playfully. "So now you think you've uncovered my deep, dark secrets? I never said that my… someone… was a romantic partner."

"You talk about her like she was," Emma said, and Regina could hear the somberness in her voice. Even in this world, Emma had a defining knack of understanding her on a deeper level, and being wiser than she seemed. "You talk about her like you were in love with her. Or maybe even like you still are."

"Maybe... I still am," Regina agreed. Emma gave her a small smile, and Regina couldn't tell if she was proud of herself for making her admit it, or if she was just enjoying delving deeper into her psyche. It had never occurred to her that Emma was paying any attention to her at all over the past two years, let alone wondering about her.

"And there's no way to get her back?"

Emma's words hit Regina like a freight train. She breathed a heavy sigh and shook her head, as she came back to reality, once again. "No. Not that I can think of."

"You don't think she feels the same?"

"I… I'm quite sure she doesn't. I did…" Regina sighed. What difference did it make if she told Emma anyway? It wasn't like she had any idea the conversation they were actually having… one that Regina didn't expect they'd ever be able to have once Snow and Charming had locked her in that tower. "I did some terrible, unforgivable things. I didn't mean to hurt her but… it's what I do."

"Well, if you didn't mean it, then you could fix it," Emma suggested.

"You only think that because you're young. I used to think that things can just work out, if you want it bad enough. But that's not how things work. Some things can never be fixed. I thought… well, coming here was supposed to be the solution. It may well have been my last shot. And somehow, it still went wrong."

"I'm not that young," Emma said, turning back to the fireplace, looking a little dejected.

"Well, I didn't mean it like you're a child," Regina insisted, even if that little pout reminded Regina of when Emma was a child. "I just meant… you haven't had your heart broken yet, so your world view hasn't been tainted."

"What if I never get my heart broken?"

"That would be lovely, but that's the sort of thing that can only be avoided by never falling in love."

"Or maybe by not falling in love with the wrong person."

"We should all be so lucky," Regina said, with a small chuckle. "But even the right person can hurt you in the most unimaginable ways, and sometimes it isn't even their fault."

"Who broke your heart?" Emma asked, timidly, and Regina wondered if she was questioning how far she could push before Regina shut the conversation down. Truthfully, though, she was finding it easier to bare her soul to a version of Emma that didn't really have any preconceived notions about her, and who wasn't sitting here speaking with her because of some deal to save her from a loveless marriage with an awful prince.

Or, if she were being honest, she supposed she liked telling Emma all the things she'd spent the last two years regretting not telling her before. Perhaps if she'd let her in more, things might have been different.

"When I was very young, younger than you even, I was engaged," Regina started, drawing in a deep breath to steady her nerves. Of course, in the Enchanted Forest, Emma had known about Daniel and his fate, but it never got any easier to discuss it. "And… he died, before we could ever be married. And it broke my heart. He wasn't the wrong person, but… for some of us, heartbreak is inescapable, I suppose."

"Or maybe you just have bad luck?"

Regina smiled. "Maybe. Sometimes I wonder if I'm cursed."

"I know the feeling," Emma said, nodding solemnly.

Regina turned to her. "You do?"

Emma shrugged. "I have a lot of bad luck. Maybe not quite the same kind you have but… I feel like accidents follow me."

"They follow you? How? You're accident-prone?"

Emma shook her head. "No, that's the thing. They happen to other people. And I know it's weird but… I just always have this bad feeling, like something is wrong… like I'm causing it."

"Like the feeling you had tonight."

Emma nodded quickly. "Yeah… not usually this intense. More like, I feel a little off, and then something happens, like my brother trips and falls on the sidewalk. And I didn't push him or anything, but I can't shake this feeling that I… I don't know… caused it. But that's crazy right?"

Regina smiled. "It sounds like you're a protective big sister who wishes she could shield her little brother from everything that could harm him, and you feel like you fail if he gets hurt anyway. I don't think that's a curse. I think that's a pre-teen boy who's not quite used to his own feet, and a sister who loves him."

"Maybe."

"Do you still have that feeling? Of something being wrong tonight?"

Emma shook her head. "No. It went away."

"There you go. It went away and everything's fine. Aside from the power outage, but that's hardly a catastrophe."

"Maybe I'm just on extra high alert, because, you know, I'm leaving home in a couple months, and I'm worried about my family."

Regina fought the urge to tell Emma maybe she just shouldn't go. That's what she would have done in the past - disregarded anything Emma wanted unless it suited her own desires - but that life was gone and she didn't have that hold on this Emma.

"Your parents seemed to have raised you fine. I'm sure they'll be just fine with your brother."

Emma shrugged. "Yeah I guess. But four years… Seth will be sixteen by the time I'm done, and who knows if I'll ever come back here? There's a whole world outside of Storybrooke. What if I never want to come back?"

"This is your home, Emma. You'll always come back." Regina didn't doubt this, but she couldn't help but worry about the fact that Seth would be sixteen when Emma finished school, as he'd still be trapped in a world where time didn't move.

"To visit," Emma said, and oddly, Regina could hear panic rising in her voice. "But what if I move across the country and only come back on holidays?"

"Well, I would assume that would be something you'd do only if you wanted to. Why is it causing you so much stress?"

Emma shook her head. "I don't know. But whenever I think about leaving, I get that same bad feeling. Well, not quite the same, but… a bad feeling. Like, ominous."

"Then why are you going?" At this point, Regina wasn't even concerned with talking her out of it, but genuinely confused by Emma's emotional state. Had the curse done this to her?

"It's… it's just what people do. Finish high school, go off to college, get a life… it's how it goes."

Before Regina could respond, she was startled by the sound of her phone ringing on her desk. She jumped a little at the unexpected sound, and turned to fumble her way over to her desk in the dark.

Normally, this phone didn't ring, as all her calls went to her secretary first, and after hours, they went straight to voicemail. If her phone was ringing, it meant someone was calling her directly, and almost no one had that number.

"Hello?" Regina said into the phone, squinting as she looked across the room, trying to adjust her eyes to the dark.

"Mayor Mills -" it was Graham "- I've been trying to reach you on your cell for the last twenty minutes."

Regina shook her head at the erroneous information, and sighed. "It's in my desk and ringer's off. What's going on?"

"Is Emma still with you?"

"Of course. In case you didn't notice, it's storming. We haven't been able to leave." Though, Regina noted for the first time that the rain had let up, and she couldn't remember the last crack of thunder. Even though the power wasn't yet back, the storm seemed to be nearly over. "What's going on?"

"There's been an accident."