Chapter 1
Although autumn had just arrived in Storybrooke, the temperatures at night had already dropped to freezing point. The sun could still be seen now and then, but mostly swaths of fog shrouded the colorful piles of leaves that lined the roadsides and parks.
Emma's heartbeat thundered in her head as she jogged through the sleepy morning streets, headphones in her ears and her favorite song on. It was the lap she ran every day: Starting at 108 Mifflin Street, her route took her down the street, through the park, past the small lake before jogging along the edge of the woods and turning onto Main Street at Mr. Gold's store, where she made a quick stop at Granny's to pick up two coffees and then walked the few yards back to the house at a brisk pace.
Her breath formed little clouds in the cold air and a thin film of sweat trailed down her forehead and forearms as she entered the diner and was greeted by the cheerful ringing of the doorbell.
"Good morning, Emma," it came from the old lady behind the counter, who immediately placed two large coffee mugs with lids on the counter. "One black, no sugar, and one latte with lots of foam, just like always."
"Morning, Granny," Emma returned the greeting, dropping onto one of the bar stools as she counted out the coins from her pocket and slipped them to the friendly woman. "Ruby's still asleep, I assume?" she then inquired with a knowing grin.
Granny pursed her lips and wiped down one of the small tables, on which she then placed the drink menu. "We've been over this before. But it's fine with me, at least I won't have to beat myself up about late shifts in my old age," she nodded.
"Good point," it came from Emma, who was already sipping her latte briefly.
"How come you have time for a chat today? Otherwise, you always can't wait to move on!"
"Have you been outside today? It's cold and uncomfortable and a drizzle started ten minutes ago, too," the blonde talked herself out of it. For Granny was right in her observation. Usually Emma had the right amount of money already in her hand when she entered the diner and immediately went on her way as soon as her fingers closed around the two cups.
"All the more reason why I prefer my store here to working in the fresh air," Granny nodded, stocking the remaining tables with the cards.
Emma grinned, took another sip of her coffee, and rose when her pounding heartbeat had calmed down a bit. "Have a great day, then. See you tomorrow!"
Granny called out a goodbye to her when Emma was already almost out the door. Her steps were dragging and she was glad when she turned into Mifflin Street and saw the Mills' spotless white mansion looming ahead of her a moment later.
She had been with Regina for almost a year now and sometimes still couldn't quite grasp the fact, even though their life together felt as if they had been a couple forever. Henry, at 14, had had to digest the fact that his biological and adoptive mothers were suddenly in a relationship, but by the time they had celebrated his 15th birthday a month earlier, there had been no sign of it. He was happy to now have his two moms, whom he loved more than anything.
Quietly, Emma unlocked the door while balancing the coffee mugs over each other in her free hand and set them down on the dresser inside. Regina hated it when she walked all the way to the kitchen in her muddy sneakers first, and Emma was tired of the early morning discussions, so she got out of the habit very quickly. She hung up her damp track jacket to dry, and put her sneakers in their usual place on the runner behind the door. Then she ran in socks to the kitchen and put the coffee mugs there.
Just as she turned the corner back into the hallway and put her foot on the bottom step of the stairs, she heard footsteps coming from the living room behind her.
"Hey, where are you going in such a hurry?"
Regina's words elicited a smile from Emma before she turned around. "Showering, what else?" The dark-haired beauty had reached her by now, allowing her to press a brief but tender kiss to her lips. "Your coffee is in the kitchen, I'll be quick." With that she continued her way upstairs to the bathroom.
"We need to talk for a minute then, before I go to work."
Emma hesitated in mid-step, but then nodded curtly to herself and continued her way upstairs. "Okay!" she just called back. Still, she wasn't at all comfortable with this line of address. So many things had already gone wrong in her life, starting with her birth to the present date, and she didn't want to have to add a breakup with Regina to the list, even if she didn't expect it. However, she had just as little desire for the topic that probably awaited her instead.
Wearing jeans and an oversized gray hoodie with 'S.W.A.T.' written on it, Emma climbed back down the stairs just minutes later with her hair still slightly damp and twisted into a loose knot at the nape of her neck.
Her friend was already waiting for her in the kitchen. The crease of her pants fit perfectly, as always, as did the blazer over her immaculately wrinkle-free blouse. The only splash of color among all the gray, black, and white was her red lipstick.
"Hi," Emma smiled, having not really greeted her at all before and now enjoying the sight.
"Good morning." Regina's gaze slid over Emma's body as if scanning her.
Emma's eyebrow slid up before she could do anything about it. "I don't think we should have sex right now. You're late," she tried to lighten the situation and took a sip of her latte, but Regina's face remained serious.
"We need to talk," Regina merely repeated her words from before.
"You already said that. Maybe now you'd like to tell me what it's going to be about, too?" Emma suggested, hiding her nervousness with another sip from her cup.
Regina, on the other hand, did not touch her drink, which was already half emptied. "You left very early today."
Emma waited for more, but nothing came. "Um, yeah. So?"
"And you came back at the same time as usual."
"Yeah, because I was talking to Granny for a while," Emma confirmed her observations.
"You got up last night and a couple of nights before that, too, and you've been gone for quite a while. And just under two weeks ago, you didn't come home for an entire night," Regina continued.
Emma gave a short laugh, but her friend seemed to mean it, because her gaze remained hard. "Okay, wait a minute. Just so I don't mess anything up here now. You're not accusing me of cheating, are you?"
Regina's silence and the look at the wooden table in front of her were answer enough for Emma.
"What the... Regina, I'm not cheating on you! Word of honor! I talked to Granny, feel free to ask her. And as for getting up at night, I had nightmares and was sweaty, so I took a shower and went outside for a while. That's all." It was only half the truth. Actually, Emma could never remember a dream when she had woken up in a sweat, but she didn't want to worry Regina. It was enough at the moment for her to tell herself something that wasn't there. "And two weeks ago, didn't I tell you that I was staying overnight at the office to be closer to downtown because of the nighttime vandalism? You don't really think I want to leave you, do you?" she finally asked gently, searching her gaze.
"I'm starting to not know what to think, to be honest. The nightmares thing isn't normal either, is it? Don't you think you should look into it more and try to find a cause?"
Emma was glad that her tone was now shifting more back to concerned, even if she didn't want her to worry.
"Sure, if it'll make you feel more reassured," she nodded, reaching across the table for Regina's hand. "Promise me you'll get it out of your head that I'm supposed to be cheating, okay? I love you more than anything. Except for Henry, maybe."
Regina smiled wryly and ran her thumb over her palm. In a whisper came her reply, "Okay. Please forgive me."
Emma nodded, enjoying the moment for a moment longer before rising from the table and tossing her empty coffee cup into the trash. "Well off to work with you then, I'll see you at lunch."
Regina nodded, emptied the cold remnants of her drink into the sink, and then carried her mug to the trash as well. She grabbed her briefcase, which was already leaning against the doorframe in the doorway to the hallway, as she passed. "I love you, see you later!"
Emma nodded and watched her go until the front door slammed shut.
When Emma arrived at the sheriff's office half an hour later, her father was already engrossed in a file lying on the desk.
"Morning, Dad," she greeted him, hanging her red leather jacket on the coat rack next to the door.
"Hi, Emma." David looked up and gave her a fatherly smile. "You're pretty pale. Bad night's sleep?" he wanted to know as he eyed her more closely.
Emma shrugged noncommittally. "Yeah, maybe that's why. What are you dealing with there?" she then changed the subject and nodded to the unfolded file.
David sighed and folded it closed. "The dwarves, once again under Grumpy's leadership, have been trying to dig a tunnel. He thinks we need an underground network of passages, in case of attack, to better escape." He rolled his eyes, making it clear what he thought about it.
Emma smirked, but didn't know what was so bad about it. "So?"
"And... they chopped into a telephone wire in the process. The residents of the street, which now has no connection to the outside world, thought that was less funny."
Now Emma had to laugh and dropped into the still vacant desk chair. "These are the problems you have to deal with in a small town. But we should be glad that we don't have to deal with robberies and shootings every day. That's the kind of things I wouldn't prefer."
David nodded and opened the file again.
"Have you contacted the phone company yet?", Emma inquired of him, since it seemed to be the only case they currently had.
David nodded and looked up at Emma again. "Right now, all we can do is wait for them to get back to us and tell us the extent of the damage. If you want, you can also take the day off today and sleep it off. If I have to leave the office, I can redirect the phone," he then offered her.
Emma hesitated; the suggestion was tempting. Then she could possibly pick Henry up from school in the late morning, since he only had four lessons, and have a long overdue conversation with him, even if she would have liked to delay it a little longer. "You can call me though, in case there is an exciting manhunt after all, okay?"
David grinned, gave his daughter a quick hug, then nodded. "Have a good day, honey."
Emma nodded and slipped back into her jacket sleeves. "How are Mom and Neal doing, by the way?"
"Fine. Well... Neal is keeping Snow pretty busy, but I guess that's just part of being his age."
Emma nodded. "Say hi to both of them for me. I love you, Dad."
"Love you too!"
With that, Emma was out the door and took a seat behind the wheel of her yellow Beetle, where she just sat and stared ahead for a long while. Dusk had given way to sunrise and the fog and rain had receded, so it seemed to be a pleasant day after all.
Emma ran a hand over her face and briefly watched Grace and Jefferson teasing each other while he presumably accompanied her on the way to school, then went off to work himself, before taking a deep breath, shaking her hair back, and beginning the short drive back to Mifflin Street.
She hadn't actually intended to lie down again, but it still wasn't really light out and neither Regina nor Henry were in the house. The sofa cushions were too tempting to resist, so Emma set the alarm on her smartphone for half past ten so that she could then catch Henry in time for the end of class and slumped down on the comfortable sofa. She actually thought she was far too wired to fall asleep, but fatigue won out and she slipped into a restless half-sleep a little later.
When her alarm clock shrilled, Emma jumped up in fright and paid for it with a proper dizziness that made her close her eyes again after silencing the annoying noise.
In the bathroom afterwards, she freshened up briefly before slipping into her jacket and then setting off on foot for school. At first she had wanted to take the car, but it wasn't particularly far, pleasantly warm for the time of year by now, and she hoped it would be a little easier if they took a walk together in the fresh air.
Leaning her forearms on the metal fence next to the gate that separated the schoolyard from the public street, she kept an eye out for her son as the school bell rang and several students, most of them from the lower grades, streamed toward the exit. She finally saw her son's red and gray ringed scarf and wild brown hair appear in the crowd and gave him a quick wave after making eye contact.
Henry broke away from a group of boys and ran to her. "Hey, Emma. What are you doing here, shouldn't you be working?" he greeted her.
"Hi, kid. There's not much going on at the station, your grandpa has everything under control. So I thought I might as well pick you up today," she explained with a slight smirk as he didn't hug her in front of his friends like he usually did.
"Um, actually, we were planning to go play another round of soccer," it came hesitantly from Henry, who glanced over his shoulder at his buddies waiting for him; one of them already had the ball tucked under his arm.
Emma tried not to let her discomfort show. "It's okay, go ahead," she nodded, forcing a wide smile before raising her hand briefly in greeting to the other boys, who returned the salute.
"You can come too, if you want," Henry suggested a little uncertainly, since Emma's mood had not escaped him.
"I don't want to bother you, kid. It's really okay."
"What if I want to show off to my mom? You play really well, after all," he grinned at her, to which Emma rolled her eyes.
"Not that good." She hesitated for a moment and took a deep breath. Who knows how much longer Henry would suggest she should accompany him? He was already embarrassed by the hugs; surely at some point he wouldn't want his mothers hanging around outside the school either." All right. But don't forget it was your idea!" she finally relented.
Henry grinned, ran ahead to his friends, and as Emma followed him more slowly, she saw him presumably telling them about the new situation.
"Come on, Emma, pass it!"
Emma's feet carried her across the field faster than any of the boys would have expected, while she dribbled the ball safely close to her. Only at the last moment, when the goalkeeper was already getting ready, did she play back to her son, who put the ball into the goal with a well-aimed kick from a run.
"That was great, Ms. Swan!" it came from one of Henry's buddies.
Emma looked at him angrily. "What was that? My name is Emma, I'm not 60 yet, after all!"
The teens laughed, and very soon had shed the initial inhibitions that had come with playing with one of their mothers, as they noticed Emma herself acting as if she wasn't a day older than 16 as she slid through the mud with them.
"Well, kick off and move on," nodded a straw-blond boy, Max, from the opposing team, and began the next play.
Emma was out of breath, but gave it her all to regain possession and not let her son's team down. So shortly after, she had also won the ball back and started heading towards the goal again, but Max didn't give up so quickly and got the ball back in a little one-on-one.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Henry shouted moments later as he saw Emma drop back in her run, then stop and press her hand to her face as blood shot from her nose. He sprinted to his buddy and gave him a rough shove in the back, causing him to fall forward onto the grass.
"Are you crazy? Is it now illegal for me to get the ball because your old lady has it?" he sneered back.
Henry's face ran red with anger. "No, it isn't. But you don't have to go overboard and break her nose!"
"What?" The boy looked confusedly at Emma, only now registering the blood speckling her top. "But... I didn't do anything, I didn't even touch her!"
Henry took another deep breath to berate him, but that's when Emma spoke up.
"Let him be, Henry. He didn't hit me." The handkerchief she had unearthed from her jeans was already soaked with blood as she sat down on the grass and leaned her head forward.
Henry got down on one knee beside her and put a hand on her back. "What else?"
"The exertion, the cold air, I don't know. It just started," it came from her. With Henry still looking at her as if he didn't believe a word she said, she returned his gaze. "Honestly! Now keep playing, I'm sure it'll stop in a minute." With that, she rose and settled on a bench at the edge of the field so as not to be in their way.
Henry watched her for a moment and then went back to Max, holding out his hand to help him up. "Sorry, man," he mumbled, and was glad when his buddy took the offered hand and let him pull himself to his feet.
"It's all good, could easily be misunderstood. And sorry about the 'your old lady' thing. Your mom's really cool. So, continue?"
But Henry shook his head. "Go on without us, I think we'll go home then. See you tomorrow!" He high-fived his friends briefly and then jogged the few steps to the bench, where he dropped down next to Emma.
"It already stopped, don't worry about it, kid," Emma said as Henry came within earshot. "You don't have to stop playing just because your mother is too old for it."
"We've been here for an hour, I have homework to do anyway. It's okay." Besides, he liked spending time with Emma, even if he wouldn't have said so out loud in front of his friends.
Emma shrugged her shoulders. "As you wish, come on then." As she walked, she put an arm around him and pulled him close for a moment. "I'll spare you the kiss on the hair," she whispered with a grin.
Henry rolled his eyes, but then grinned as well.
They had almost reached Mifflin Street when Emma stopped.
When Henry noticed, he did likewise and looked back at her questioningly. "Are you all right?"
Emma took a deep breath and caught up to him the two steps he had put between them by her sudden pause. "I picked you up from school because I wanted to talk to you," she explained slowly, biting her lower lip without looking at him.
"What's wrong?" From her tone, Henry could tell something was wrong. He was an observant boy anyway, but it didn't take much this time. "You don't want to break up with Mom, do you?"
"Oh my God! Not you too! Did she talk to you and you two conspired against me or what?" came an upset voice from her.
"She didn't. But you've been acting weird for several weeks now, clearly pushing bad news in front of you, and that was just the first thing that came to mind. I'm glad I'm not right." Now, however, he looked at her expectantly, waiting for the real reason for her behavior.
Emma noticed her heart begin to race, so she closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, she took her son by the upper arms and firmly met his gaze. "Henry, I'm sick. I have cancer."