Try as she might, Regina could not sleep that evening. She tossed and turned, dozed off and woke back up all the way through the night. So very many thoughts and emotions ran wild through her mind.
Truth be told, She was going through a lot.
She was depressed and frustrated that she still could not locate her son. What kind of mother would allow this to happen?? She repeated to herself.
She was confused about whether or not her own mother could somehow be involved, and to top it all off, she was angry as hell at Emma... at the way she acted earlier today.

Why would Emma scold me, then dismiss me like that?? And what's with that other woman.. flirting with her as if.. as if they dated, or slept together before??

That woman...

Regina scrunched her face at the thought.

"And why Should I even care.." Regina thought aloud; scolding herself, "I should be concentrating on Henry, not my love life... or anyone else's for that matter."

But, not unlike her struggle to find sleep, it was impossible to not think of Emma. Impossible to not think of how or why they recently found each other again. It was as if the uncontrollable forces of nature had pulled them together.

With the bombardment of her thought-train getting the best of her, Regina sat up in her bed. The satin sheets were twisted and mangled across the soft mattress. Glancing at the clock on her dresser, she read the time at 3:57am.

"Well," she said to herself, setting her feet to the floor, "if my mind wants to take a trip down memory lane, I guess there's no use trying to fight it."

Regina walked across her bedroom to the cedar chest that sat just below the wide window across from her bed. Her father made it for her as a child, from the evergreen trees that grew wild behind the family mansion. The forest in which Regina loved to play as a child.

When he gave it to her on her 8th birthday he told her, "Some day you will grow old, Regina. Keep this chest filled with the very treasures you love now, and you will forever be young whenever you open it."
At the time, she didn't really understand what her father meant exactly, but, she did what he said and filled it with everything that brought her happiness. Over the years, every time she opened it, the aromatic scent of the cedar wood transported her back to that moment when she was just eight years old.

She removed the soft, white seat cushions that lay atop it, and opened the chest. As the top of the chest squeaked open, she took in a deep breath, in hailing the strong scent of cedar that plumed out of it.
The strong woodsy smell always had a way of calming her, and as she sorted through the mess of items inside of it, she pulled out a small shoebox, it's contents jangled around inside it.
Smiling, Regina closed the chest, and sat on the floor, her back against it.

Staring at the blue box in her lap, she carefully removed the lid, exposing the litter of contents inside.

Amongst the collection where some earrings, an audio cassette labeled 'Em & Gina's Party Mix', an old half used chapstick - cherry flavored, a house key, a pack of now stale banana flavored bubble gum, an old tattered t-shirt, and a handful of old photos.

To any other person this box would be tossed aside, considered an old box of garbage. But, for Regina... it was her childhood. Her happiest moments growing up. Every item in this small box held a memory, every one of them involving Emma. After she and Emma lost touch, Regina would occasionally rummage through the box of trinkets, hoping to bring her back to the days she was happiest.. but as the years went on, this occurred less and less until finally she married Robin. After she said her "I do's" she barely opened the cedar chest. Until one day, she stopped altogether.

This was the first time she opened the box since that day.

Regina fiddled with the small key inside the box.. it was a spare key to Regina's dorm room when she attended college.. and it was the last thing Emma gave back to her before she left for the last time.

Dropping the key into the box, she quickly grabbed the wrinkled and heavily worn T-Shirt that was crumpled inside the box. Slowly and methodically, Regina replaced her night shirt with the old tattered tee. It was extremely oversized, and she held up a fistful of extra material to her face, taking in the smell of cedar and the CK-1 perfume that Emma always wore when they were young. The pleasant welcoming aroma tickled her senses bringing her back to her junior year of high school.

Regina held the pack of gum up to her face. She pressed it against her nostrils taking in the sweet fruity smell of bubble-Yum's banana split flavor. Emma's mouth always tasted like that gum, after all, it was her favorite.

Putting the gum back into the box, she took the few photos that were also inside the box. Regina smiled as she reminisced, remembering the exact days each photo was taken.

Regina picked up the first photo. She smiled slowly.. it was taken January 1, 2000. Emma was graduating high school finally that year, after being left back twice - mostly for ditching class. Regina had started her first year of higher learning at Boston University after taking a year off to intern at her father's firm.

Quite the night of celebration, that year. Emma was out and proud, and still trying to convince Regina to do the same.
It was a fun, wild night.. and Regina could never forget the bittersweet flavor of Emma's Cherry chapstick after they both downed a bottle of cheap champagne to ring in the new year.

By the end of the night they had both passed out drunk as skunks in her dorm room, after a crazy night of laughter, drinking, and exploring each other's bodies.
Regina's roommate had never let her forget it either.

As she placed those photos back into the box, she grabbed two more Polaroid shots from another memorable night together.
This time, her memories took her back to the night that she received her first of many high honors at school. Regina took Emma as her date to the 'Summa Cum Laude" honorary dinner after completing her second year at Boston U.

Regina softly laughed to herself as she remembered Emma's favorite joke of the night. Every time someone mentioned the title of honors, Emma would snicker in Regina's ear "Oh, someone's gonna cum laude tonight... that's for sure!"

Even when she looked as beautiful as ever, dripping with the diamonds Regina would gift her, Emma always took it too far.. but always managed to make Regina smile.

But, somehow, Regina never thought she made Emma as happy as Emma made her. She always knew that the fact that she couldn't be as out and proud as Emma was, she was always holding Emma back.

Goddamnit... Regina thought to herself now, She always deserved more than me. Emma deserves someone who's as care free as she is..

Carefully now, Regina picked up the last photo from the box, and she felt the tears begin to well up in her eyes. The all too familiar feeling of knives in her throat began to take hold as she gazed at the photo in her hand.

The worn down, tattered photo was laden with brown, sticky coffee stains as it sat between her thumb and fingers.
This was the very last photo taken of the two of them together. Regina took the photo herself with an old flip phone and printed it out long after they'd broken up.

Emma had been crying all night as they fought in Regina's dorm room. Emma couldn't understand why Regina was still so reserved and closeted. After argueing all night to exhaustion, Emma fell asleep with her tear stricken face buried in the warmth of Regina's neck. It was then, at that moment Regina knew she had to break up with Emma. She never wanted Emma to have to conform to her reservations, and she knew Emma would never be happy this way.

Regina took this final photo of them together to remind herself of what she was about to lose forever. To remind herself that she did not deserve the love that Emma had shown her. Every time Regina gazed at this photo she filled herself with the anger and resentment of all the bullshit she put Emma through, and all the pain she had caused them both.

Because Regina knew, staring back at her in this photo was the epitome of a woman who did not understand love. Did not understand true sacrifice, and who certainly did not deserve the angel that rested there beside her.

Taking a breath and wiping her tears, Regina was abruptly startled by a loud banging downstairs.. frightened, she quickly stood, knocking the entire contents of the shoe box on the floor around her. Nervously, her eyes darted around the room for her cell phone. After locating it a few feet away from her, she held her thumb over the screen to call the police, but when the screen came to life, she saw a list of several texts and calls from both Emma, and Robin.

What the...

The loud banging continued, and Regina could see now, that it must be one of them at the door trying to reach her.

Her phone suddenly lit up again in her hand and she answered it, "Hello?? Emma? Is that you?"

"Yes, who else would it be? I've been trying to call you for over thirty minutes!"

Trying to gather her words, Regina replied "Well, it's in the middle of the night Emma! I have my phone on silent you know."

"Ok well, this is urgent! I'm downstairs, can you please let me in??"

"I'll be right down." Regina replied before hanging up. Looking back down at the mess on the floor, she hastily rounded the fallen contents back up and into the blue box. Just before placing the lid on it, another photo caught her eye.. a photo quite different than the others, but still that of the same. A photo that she had forgotten about up until now.

Regina smiled, remembering one of the happiest moments in her life.

Staring back up at her was the very first photo she had of her holding Henry after getting back home from the birth center.

It was the only time she was ever happier than her time spent with Emma. Giving birth to her son was the happiest moment of her life.

After quickly placing the box back into the cedar chest, Regina ran down the stairs and thrust open the door.

"Emma! Is everything alright? What's going on??"

Emma replied, "Yea.. no.. I mean yes I think so.. there's been a huge crack in the case."

"Oh my god!" Regina replied, "you found Henry??"

"Maybe.. but we have to act fast." Emma answered back, "Robin is meeting us there, we have to hurry!"

"...meeting us, where, exactly?" Regina replied confused.

"Right, sorry," Emma continued, "At your father's firm. Robin thought it was strange that Cora headed out there at this hour, on a Sunday."

"Alright then.. yea, that is weird. Mother always insisted Sunday work was for the lower class..."

"Yea," Emma replied rolling her eyes, "I remember."

Regina quickly replied turning away from her, "let me just get some clothes on.."

"Wait, Regina..."

"What? What is it??" She replied turning back to her.

"Is... is that my shirt??" Emma asked, a slight smile tucked at the corner of her mouth.

What? Your shirt?? What do you..." Regina paused, looking down at herself.

Shit.

"It is, isn't it.." Emma questioned, "I've been looking for that shirt for like... forever! Like twenty fucking years! You've had it all this time?"

Emma continued still confused, "That's my favorite shirt! and.. why in the world are you wearing it??"

Regina turned away from her embarrassed, continuing her rampage to her room for decent clothes, "that's not important right now, Emma! We'll discuss it later.. or maybe never, actually..."

"What was that?" Emma asked.

"Nothing, I'll be right back."

************

A few minutes after they climbed into Emma's yellow bug, Emma hit the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road.

"Emma, what are you doing?" Regina asked, "We're a few blocks away from the firm.. I thought we had to meet Robin there?"

As Emma turned the engine off, she gathered herself and replied, "We're walking the rest of the way Regina. We have to be carful, after all, we don't want to be seen."

As she followed Emma out of the car and down the street, she said under her breath, "I just can't believe it.. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around my mother kidnapping Henry.. why? I don't understand... Emma, I wish you'd explain."

"Regina, I can't go into much detail, we have to be quick. However, I will say that Robin called me and told me he'd been tailing Cora all day after she acted so strangely to him. He explained that he thought something just wasn't quite right with her. That she was holding something back."

"Damnit Robin," Regina mumbled, "I told him to keep away from her.. I'm starting to feel like my mother will stop at nothing to get her way.. she could be dangerous."

"That is exactly why he followed her," Emma replied back, "Regina, remember, Henry is Robin's son too."

Regina offered up a tight smile.

Finally, they reached the building they were looking for. As they approached the back door entrance, Emma turned to Regina and spoke, "Listen to me Regina. Please stay behind me at all times. I can't protect you if you're not close ok? This could potentially be very dangerous. Do you understand me?"

Regina nodded briskly. Her palms were hot, and she felt jittery. Would she see her son today? Her Henry?
Following close behind, she tailed Emma as they walked into the building.
Inside it was dark, and cold. It was still early morning and the sun had not yet come up.
"Should we-"
"Ssshhh!" Emma abruptly turned to hush Regina, she whispered, "Are you insane! We don't want anyone to know we're here."
"Oh, um.. right. Sorry." Regina quietly replied.

"Regina.. look," Emma quietly whispered as she stopped and turned to face her. "I am working as hard as I can to find your son. I am confidant that I will."
"Well, yes Emma I-"
"Let me speak Regina."
Regina quickly closed her mouth and stood still.
"After I solve this case, you'll never have to talk to me again ok? It's done. I know this hasn't been easy on you and I know you wouldn't have involved me if you had any other choice. So, I'll just do my job, and we can both get on with our lives and go our separate ways."
"Emma, no, please I-"
Quickly, Emma held a finger to her own lips to signal Regina to keep quiet. Emma had seen some movement that was not their own.
Slowly, she gestured Regina to follow her, keeping a hand on the hilt of the gun at her hip.
As the women came up around the corner of one if the isles of books and records that lined the walls, they pressed their backs up against it trying to remain unseen.

Concentrating hard, Emma could hear hushed voices just a few feet away.
Squinting her eyes through the darkness of the room, she realized it was Robin and Cora standing in the middle of Regina's office. They seemed to be engaged in a very heated argument about something. Emma tried her best to listen as Regina inched her face closer to the edge to do the same.

"Let me handle this Robin, you have to trust me." Cora insisted in a harsh voice.
"Cora.. Cora please," Robin begged, "Regina deserves to be happy! I have come to terms with the fact that I alone cannot do that. Why is it so hard for you??"

Cora straightened her back, squaring off her shoulders the way Regina always did when someone was challenging her.
"You know, Robin, I've never pegged you for a stupid boy up until this very moment."
She spat.

Regina had heard enough. She was just so sick and tired of her mother trying to tear people apart, that she didn't care if Cora knew she was there. "Mother! Stop it!" She demanded, stepping away from the protection of Emma and the wall.

"Regina! No!" Emma pleaded, but it was too late. They had both been seen. They had both been caught now. And there was no turning back.

"You." Cora said, narrowing her eyes in Emma's direction. "Tell me, why is it every time I think my daughter has set herself on the right track, you go and show up?"
"Cora, I'm not here to squabble with you and Regina's life." Emma announced, "But I do know you have Henry. I know you know where he is, so just tell us so we can put this nightmare behind us."
Cora chuckled, "oh is that all? Well, let me assure you, detective Swan, Henry is safe."
"Mother.. so.. you do have him?? All this time.."
"Silence Regina!" Cora commanded, "Of course I have him! He's my grandson! You've grown soft these last months, and that's no way to raise a fine young boy like Henry. He needs proper care. And the only way for that to happen is either under my watch, or, under the watch of both his parents at home. All you have to do, is call off this ridiculous divorce."

Regina's face instantly grew hot as she filled with sadness an anger, "How.. how could you.."
"Oh honey, it was easy really," Cora explained, "Henry willingly came with me. I just went to Robin's apartment and explained to Henry we were taking a little trip. Because he trusts his grandmother, you know."

As the two women argued, Emma glanced down at the papers that were spread across the large table in the office. She noticed that most of them had Regina and Henry's name on them. Emma began to pick up the papers to examine them.
Cora abruptly stopped arguing with her daughter to address the detective.
"Ms Swan, those papers are none of your business."
Regina turned her attention to Emma.
The blonde paid Cora no mind as she read the information in front of her. Suddenly, Emma's face completely flushed, her cheeks drained of any color they once held. It was as if she'd seen a ghost.
"Detective! Hand over those papers at once!"

Emma whispered, "Regina.... Where did you get the donor from to conceive Henry..?
Regina swallowed hard, "Emma.. I-"
"Regina. Answer the question." Emma demanded through clenched teeth.
Straightening her back, Regina replied softly, "At um, at the Fairfax Cryo Bank. In Boston."
Emma began to breath hard and quick as her nerve and emotion took hold.
Emma continued to quickly thumb through the paperwork in front of her, suddenly focusing on one form.

"Regina.." Emma began, tears slowly rolling down her cheeks, "Why do you have this? Why do you have my egg donor consent form??"

"Please tell me this is a mistake, and I'm hallucinating.."

"Emma.." Regina began, "I've been trying to tell you for weeks now.."
"Tell me what, Regina??!" Emma said sternly, her eyes narrowing at Regina. A steady stream of hot wet tears rolled down her face.
Robin placed his hand on Regina's shoulder attempting to calm her.
"Emma.." Regina began again, "Henry.. Henry is your son."
"What..?" Emma could not believe what she was hearing. Her son. After all this time...
"Regina, I donated my eggs to be 100% anonymous. How could this happen??"

Before Regina could speak, Cora interrupted "Well my dear, you'd be surprised what a whole lot of money and persuasion can do."
Regina darted her eyes in her mother's direction.
"Mother, please... not now."
"Then when darling?" Cora asked, "If not now, then when did you plan to tell your Emma that you've held back the biggest secret of her life from her?"
"Emma, it's alright, Regina will explain everything." Robin spoke softly to her.
Emma quickly darted her eyes to Robin, "How the fuck are you so calm about all of this.. did.. did you know??"

Robin took a minute to clear his throat, "Erm, yes and no.. I knew Regina sought out a specific donor.. but I didn't know it was you. At least, not until recently."
"How recently??" Emma asked.
"About a year ago."
"Christ.." Emma steadied herself against the table. She was starting to feel faint from shock.

"Mother, that's enough!" Regina commanded.
"Mmmm.." Cora hummed, "Yes, it is, isn't it?"
Everyone gasped as Cora brandished a gun.

"You know, I've tried everything! Literally everything to make sure you had a bright future, Regina." Cora explained. "But every time I take a step further, that whore was always standing in my way!"
Cora aimed the gun in Emma's direction.
"Don't even think about it!" Cora commanded, noticing the detective reaching for her gun.
"Now that you know the truth, detective, I think it's time to say goodbye, don't you?"

"NO!" Robin yelled, throwing his body in front of Emma. Suddenly there was a loud bang and Robin's body fell to the floor. Regina screamed, falling to the floor to tend to Robin as Emma pulled her gun, shooting after Cora who disappeared out of the room.

"Robin!! Stay with me Robin.." Regina pleaded. As Robin's breathing became quick and rapid, hot wet blood poured out from his chest.
"Regina," Robin pleaded between breaths, "Save Henry."
"I will, but please.. don't leave me.."
Regina tried to apply pressure over the bullet wound in Robin's chest, but it was no use.
Blood continued to flow out of his chest, through Regina's fingers as she struggled to contain it.
As Robin's breath slowed, he whispered, "Regina, I will always love you. And I know... I know Emma.. will always love you... she always has.. stay with her."

Seconds later, Emma burst back into the room, the right sleeve of her jacket was soaked in blood. "Oh god, Emma..." Regina said as Emma entered the room.
"Cora got away, Regina. Call an ambulance for Robin, quickly!"
Regina cried, "It's too late, Emma. Robin is dead.."