The rumour mill was in a frenzy the day Regina returned to work. It had been the first week of February, and the Mayor sauntered into Town Hall with her heeled boots and her briefcase and took to the job as if her month-long absence was scheduled vacation time and she was returning from Cuba. Neither her secretary nor the council had the courage to question her disappearance, only mustering enough will to ask how she had been doing hoping to receive some first-hand information. Nothing more than a curt "fine, dear" or a "Well, and yourself?" was spared since Regina never gave them much fodder.

Within days, the untouched piles of manila folders, the backlogged files, and the meetings which kept getting pushed back were cleared up with the Mayor back behind her desk. Mayor Regina Mills was back and a force to be reckoned with. Whatever happened to her clearly put her working motor into gear, and the sight of an extremely and already overbearing politician was more than a little terrifying.

But that was the topic of conversation in and around town. What had happened? Where did she go? What stick was up her ass again?

She just had a stay-cation, the citizens guessed. Staving off the preemptive nervous breakdown many politicians and persons in the spotlight usually suffered with a little (or a lot, according to Councilman James) time off. But then Sidney let it slip that he had been ordered to withdraw her name from the pen-pal program immediately, and gossip was guzzled faster than it could be produced.

Emma was coming back for good, some hopeful residents proclaimed, Mary Margaret being at the forefront of that campaign. "She's coming to live in Storybrooke with Regina and Henry. How romantic," the schoolteacher imagined with a sigh.

"Are you kidding?" Leroy had gruffed. "Have you seen the Mayor lately? No. She's been cooped up in that house, and you know what that means?" Leroy made a sick creaking sound and sliced his thumb across his neck. "Sister ain't coming back."

"Leroy!" Mary Margaret admonished.

"Guys, that's enough." Ruby glared at the gossiping pair as she wiped down the counter.

Mary Margaret blushed and bowed her head, but Leroy scoffed and leaned forward on his forearm. "Do you know something?"

"I know as much as you do." Ruby crossed her arms over her chest. "And even if I did, it's none of your business."

Leroy grouched away with his hash brown and coffee in hand while Mary Margaret steered the topic away. It was hard for Ruby to lend an ear when her own speculations were running rampant in her mind. The waitress had a generally good instinct — she had been one of the first people to spot Henry when he hid in the forest — and it gnawed at her to think that Regina had gone from warm friend to cold Mayor overnight because of another loss in her life. Though Ruby was closer in age to Emma, living in Storybrooke all her life left her privy to details regarding the Mills woman, and it was no secret that the kind, bubbly head cheerleader of Storybrooke High did a complete one-eighty when her parents died.

Ruby, Tina, and Kathryn couldn't help but speculate between themselves, they were Regina's friends after all, but their worry didn't ease when Regina had finally answered their calls with a short "I appreciate your persistent concern, but I'm far too busy to continue wasting my energies when the town is in dire need of attention."

It was the most polite way the older brunette could say "leave me the hell alone" and it threw all three ladies a curveball. Every phone call, email, and text was met with cordial politeness, and whenever Kathryn had tried to see Regina at the office, her secretary was under strict instructions that no one was to be allowed in.

Even the excuse of her birthday had Regina shrugging her friends off and saying it was simply another year another number, though Ruby's perceptive ears picked up on the loathing drawl and aching loneliness in her tone.

Ruby and Tina were prepared to give the Mayor her space, but it was Kathryn, over a month later, deciding that enough was enough. She had given Regina her space only to lose her for fifteen years, and she wasn't about to make the same mistake again.

It was risky, showing up to the mansion on a particularly nippy March evening with bottles of wine and alcohol and a tub of caramel swirl ice cream, but they had Graham in tow should Regina kick them off her porch, and Kathryn had a feeling the Sheriff would be put to good use if they couldn't get Regina out of the house.

"Regina!" Kathryn banged on the door with a closed fist. "Open up!"

"You know, I could have you arrested for trespassing," Graham pointed out from the back of the group, shuffling his feet and twiddling his thumbs through his belt loops. His reluctance for storming the Mills mansion was clearly evident. "If Regina says—"

"Well you're gonna have me arrested for murder too if Regina doesn't open this damn door!" She banged her fist again once more and this time a face pressed against the side glass.

"Hi Aunty Kat!" Henry's muffled voice sounded from the other side, his breath condensing on the glass from the cool night air.

Tina smirked behind her and bent down low to Henry's level. "Hi Henry, can you let us in?"

"Henry, what did I tell you about answering the door to strangers?" Regina's voice boomed from the inside.

The boy turned to look at his mother. "But it might be—"

Suddenly Regina appeared behind her son, tugging him away from the door as she struck the group on her porch with a glare that should have made them whither even through the glass. Instead, Kathryn tilted her head to the door and held up a bottle of wine. "Please?"


"They'll be fine," Kathryn said softly, a hand on Regina's arm as she stood at the bottom of the stairs watching Henry lead Graham up to his room where the Sheriff was relegated to in-house babysitting. "If anything I'd be worrying about Graham and his back if Henry makes him be a horse again."

The joke did nothing to ease the tension stiffening Regina's joints, but as soon as her son was safely ensconced in his room, Regina reluctantly allowed herself to be led to the living room where wine was poured and drinks were mixed.

"What is this?" She asked flippantly, refusing to budge from her spot in the archway as Kathryn, Ruby, and Tina gathered around the coffee table, littered with a carton of orange juice, a bottle of soda, snacks, and large bottles of vodka, rum, and red wine.

"An intervention." Ruby pulled open a bag of chips and popped one in her mouth pointedly.

"And what exactly is my problem that the three of you found the need to infiltrate my house?"

"Infiltrate?" Tina repeated offended. "We knocked and you let us in."

"So spill." Kathryn got up and dragged Regina into the room before settling onto her knees before the table. "What's been happening with you?"

"Nothing." Her lips were pursed and her arms were crossed, and Regina refused to sit, instead just stationed stiffly, towering over the other three women in a blatant display of power. "Excuse me for wanting to spend more time with my son instead of gallivanting through the night."

Kathryn rolled her eyes. "Do you honestly think after how many years of friendship, I'm going to accept that excuse?"

"I haven't been unkind to you."

"Ignoring us hasn't exactly been friendly either," the waitress pointed out.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't aware that I had to check in with you every single day of my life."

"Not every single day," Tina said from her spot on the couch. "But your friends would like to be updated if you shut yourself out for three months." Before Regina could scoff, the preschool teacher interrupted with a finger in the air. "Yes. You have friends."

"Annoying friends."

Kathryn shrugged and retreated to the couch, patting the middle cushion determinedly. "Fine. We don't have to talk. We've missed you, and you need a ladies night."

After a full two minutes of begrudging silence, Regina stalked over none too happily to the couch and grabbed at a glass, foregoing the wine set in front of her and taking the proffered mixed drink of rum and coke from Ruby.


"Why are we watching this?" Regina scowled at the screen.

Both Kathryn and Ruby turned a knowing eye to Tina who was incredibly engrossed by Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling on the television. The curly-haired blonde felt their eyes on her and sat up defensively. "It's romantic, okay?"

The four women were squeezed onto the sofa, Regina sitting regally in the middle with her third mixed drink firmly in her grasp, while the other three women lay in tangled limbs over and around each other. When they had finally gotten Regina to indulge in their night, they had dimmed the lights, opened the snacks, and popped in the DVD. Every so often Henry's contagious laughter could be heard from upstairs as he and Graham horsed around. Every time, Regina would pause and listen, as if waiting for any sign of distress, but Ruby would nudge her and smile encouragingly for her to return to them. They released her for ten minutes near the beginning of the movie when Henry had come into the room hanging from Graham's back, claiming he and his noble steed needed sustenance (a word Regina had no idea where he picked up but pronounced as best he could in two syllables). It took three minutes for Kathryn to realize the brunette was stalling in the kitchen and another two to bring her back to the living room, trapped underneath their outstretched legs.

Regina scoffed at the screen, pointing with the glass in her hand as liquid sloshed precariously to the side. "Romantic? What's romantic about encouraging an affair? She's engaged for god's sake."

"Shh," Tina hissed, smacking Regina's arm. "It's the best part."

Rain pelted down on the actors as they rowed their boat to the dock, and suddenly they were yelling at one another.

"I wrote you 365 letters."

Regina's breath caught in her throat because she had not spent the better part of the year knowing that she and Emma had exchanged 248 letters and packages between them.

"I wrote you every day for a year."

Regina tensed and shut her eyes, finishing off her drink in a quick gulp and clenching the glass in her fist so tightly, the crystal should have cracked.

"It wasn't over. It still isn't over."

As if compelled by some spell, suddenly two hoarse words ripped from Regina's throat. "She's missing."

"No, she's not. Just watch," Tina responded obliviously, eyes still glued to the screen.

"Regina?" Kathryn sat up from the corner of the couch, patting Ruby's legs off her own to scoot closer to Regina who refused to open her eyes.

The Mayor shook her head and let it fall back on the couch gaining all three women's attention as they turned concerned toward their friend who struggled to reign in muffled whimpers.

"Is it Emma?" Ruby asked quietly. Regina nodded, using the forearm of her free hand to cover her eyes as she released breathy sobs before curling her head into her arm and letting her tears flow freely.

Tina moved in, burying the older woman in a hug and in moments the other two joined in as Regina cried into their embrace.


"Why are they crying?" Henry whispered as he and Graham glanced into the living room to see all four women huddled up, eyes burning red, tissues littering the floor, and the tub of ice cream shared between them.

The Sheriff looked up to the screen to see an elderly couple lying in a bed whispering to each other, and it all clicked. "They're watching The Notebook."

"That's the TV," Henry pointed out with a giggle.

Soon enough the credits rolled allowing Henry the opportunity to bound into the darkened living room and climb on top of the tangle of women before settling in a crevice in front of Regina's chest and against Ruby's calf.

"Hi Mommy." He held her cheeks in his hands and kissed her nose before wiping away the tear tracks. "You sad again?"

She held him tightly and scooted forward, freeing herself from being the human cushion and stood up. Sniffling once, she pressed her lips to his cheek. "The movie was sad."

"Don't watch it," Henry demanded simply, making the adults in the room grin.

"Good idea." Grabbing the remote, Regina clicked the TV off and placed Henry back on the ground. "Go upstairs, and we'll get ready for bed."

As soon as the boy was out of the room, Regina turned stiffly toward her friends and held herself around the middle. Despite talking with them for the past hour, confirming their fears and admitting her worries, Regina felt more exposed than ever as they stared expectantly at her.