Reset

Regina waved her hand and a white paper bag appeared in her hand in a purple mist and she handed it to Emma, “one of those toasted cheeses you are so fond of,” she commented and stared at the blonde until she took it.

“Thanks,” Emma muttered as she took the bag.

Regina stared at her, “I’m not leaving until I see you at least eat one bite.”

Emma rolled her eyes and unfolded the top of the bag and took out the foil wrapped sandwich inside, “is this from Granny’s?”

“It’s an approximation of one,” Regina explained, “I haven’t stolen it from the counter.”

Emma took a bite and chewed happily and Regina was happy to see some of the colour return to the blonde’s cheeks.

“Why do you ever cook if you can just magic up whatever you want?” Emma asked as she swallowed.

“Two reasons,” Regina admitted, “firstly I enjoy cooking but most importantly magic is different here, every magical act depletes my magical energy and it takes time to be restored. If I used magic all the time I would soon be too weak to stand. It needs to be used sparingly.”

“Was it that way in the Enchanted Forest?” Emma asked before she took another bite.

“Yes, but here it depletes much faster, there is limited magic in this world,” Regina said as she watched Emma chewing a second bite of the sandwich, “Emma..”

“Thank you for the sandwich, Regina,” Emma said quickly, she knew the tone of voice, she knew what was coming would be another vague and pointless enquiry as to her health and she would have to supply another lie, “but I really need to get on with unpacking and then rest.”

Regina regarded the younger woman for a moment before nodding, “I understand,” she said with such feeling that Emma briefly thought that she did, “I hope you and Henry are happy in your new home,” she stated with a smile before heading to the front door and letting herself out.

As soon as the door closed Emma put the sandwich down on the counter and sunk to the floor with hot tears spreading across her face. She knew she had been stupid to come to Storybrooke and even more stupid to develop feelings for the people within. She should have remembered that everything comes to an end, that everyone leaves you eventually. She cried loudly and uncontrollably as she realised that she was the one who had brought happy endings back to Storybrooke but seemingly at the cost of her own. Everyone was moving away from her as they always did and she was destined to be alone as usual, but this time with the weight of a broken heart.

In the hallway Regina held the handle that she had used to close the door and listened to the muffled sound of crying from inside the apartment and frowned as she looked sadly at the door. Eventually she allowed her hand to drop from the handle and turned and walked away.

Chapter 20

Six days had passed since Emma and Henry had moved into the new apartment. Henry loved it and had spent time getting his belongings from Regina's garage and taking them back to his room, he'd done it in many small journeys and had declined any offer of help from an adult with a car. Regina had decided it was to give him a reason to continually come to the house and while she was unsure if it was a good idea to allow it she hadn't had the heart to stop him.

He knocked on the door early one morning and waited patiently for Regina to answer, he had ridden his bike over this time after finding it in the garage on the previous journey. He'd had no real need for a bike as Storybrooke was small enough to be able to walk everywhere but he had decided to take it and ride with some friends he had recently made at school.

The door opened and Regina stood there with Grace in her arms, "good morning, Henry," she smiled, "as I said last time, I'd be happy to drive your things over to your apartment if you like?"

"No, it's okay, Mom," he smiled as she handed him the garage key and he picked up his bike from the ground and wheeled it over to the garage. After a moment's consideration she followed him, "how is school?"

Henry shrugged, "it's okay, I'm doing more after school classes now."

"Oh yes?" she asked as he opened the garage door and stepped in and she followed him into the dimly lit room. He walked over to his boxes and Regina stood by the light switch and took Grace's hand and pointed her finger and pressured it onto the light switch and smiled at the way the little girl's eyes lit up when the light came on.

"Yeah," Henry answered, "math," he turned around and sighed, "obviously," before turning back to the boxes, "and history and then I'm playing soccer and I'm in chess club."

Regina smiled as she bounced Grace gently, "I'm impressed."

Henry shrugged.

Regina tilted her head and looked at Henry from behind as she analysed this information, "why the sudden interest in after school classes?"