"Regina!" Emma called, stepping out of the diner, trying to stop her from running off. "Regina, please!"

"No!" she shouted back, her voice thick with tears. She had charged from the entrance and was nearly down the street, her back to the blonde. However, Emma could see Regina's arm was up by her face, wiping, she imagined, the tears away.

Emma darted after heart, desperate to explain herself. "Regina please wait, I didn't want to hurt you, I didn't kn-" she was cut off when Regina whipped round, her face hard and furious.

"Of course you didn't! Of course you 'didn't know'! You're worse than your mother, a thousand times worse!" she screamed, her anger causing her hands to glow purple. Emma stepped back and swallowed.

"Regina, I know, I messed up, please, calm do-" Regina let out a scream and aimed her hands across the road, sending three buildings up in flames.

Emma froze and held her breath, watching her. She knew Regina would never hurt her, but Emma wasn't prepared to test her now. She watched as Regina's eyes danced bright in the flames for a moment, before turning back to the dull, tear stained sight they had been before her outburst. The buildings burned in her glare, but when she returned to her sad self, the flames vanished, leaving the buildings only charred. Emma took a step towards her but Regina turned away from Emma.

"Leave me alone," she whispered, her entire body slumped in defeat. Emma shook her head.

"I'm never going to leave you, Regina," Emma whispered, stepping closer to her to wrap her arms around her. At first, Regina resisted, but when Emma squeezed her tightly and rested her cheek on Regina's head, she felt the older woman collapse into her and clutch her coat.

Emma rubbed her back and held her as close to her as she could, listening to Regina's sobs. It broke her heart, but she couldn't stop it, she couldn't tell her, not here. Emma, against her better instincts, pressed a kiss to Regina's head and immediately regretted it. Fortunately for her, Regina didn't seem to notice. She only clutched Emma's jacket tighter to try and mask her cries into her jumper.

Emma opened her mouth, wanting to speak to Regina, but at that point she heard the door to the diner open. Emma froze and and looked up, fearing the worst. She couldn't help but sigh in relief when she noticed it was only Dav- her father.

He looked at her, his face confused, but Emma shook her head, hoping he would take the hint. Thankfully, he did. He nodded and went back in. Emma heard him announce her departure, and Emma took this as her cue.

"Come on Regina, let's go home," Emma whispered in her ear, and she nodded. Regina hiccuped, pressing herself as close to Emma as possible and Emma shifted so she could keep the brunette close to her.

As they walked the short distance to Regina's house, they remained silent- with only the occasional sniff from Regina. When they rounded the corner onto her street, Emma felt Regina's hand slip into hers and a mumble escape her lips.

"What was that?" Emma asked softly as she opened Regina's gate.

Regina moved away from Emma to enter the gate and spun around to look at her. "I'm sorry," she said, clearer this time but unable to meet Emma's eye.

Emma smiled and moved to pull Regina into a quick hug. "I'm the one who's sorry, I didn't know, and I didn't know how much he meant to you and I-" Emma tried to speak what her heart was telling her to, what she knew was the truth. She couldn't stand it when Regina was angry with her, but her words were cut short when Regina pulled away and nodded.

"I know, I realise, which is why I am apologizing, Miss Swan and I-"

"Emma," she interrupted, but Regina ignored her.

"I wish for this to be forgotten. I can erase the evidence of that fire and everything will be as it once was." Regina stated, turning away, but stopping when she heard Emma come through the gate. Despite the formality of her tone, Emma knew Regina was still breaking inside. She wasn't going to leave her now. "What are you-"

"I'm not leaving you now, Regina. You're hurt and I-" Emma stopped herself, repeating how now was not a good time. "I don't want you hurting anyone, just in case your magic gets out of control."

Regina snorted, "Miss Swan, such an event will not-"

Emma sighed and crossed her arms, "You know I'm going to stand here all night if that's what it takes, Regina. I'm coming in and I'm staying. Use me as your personal punch bag if you get upset again."

Regina frowned, "I may not love you, Miss Swan, but I do not wish to use you as my punch bag," she said softly before turning to the house. "I'm very tired and plan to sleep, you don't need to be here. Go back to the party and at least get Henry before staying."

Emma stepped closer to her. She was so close, Regina could breathe in her scent, not that she wanted to of course. She swallowed when Emma took her hand. "Maybe I want to be here. You may find this hard to believe Regina, but I don't hate you- I do care about you. Besides, I told Henry to stay with Dav-dad tonight, there's a game or something on." Emma smiled, to which Regina could only respond by shrugging, nodding her head and moving from her to open the door.

She did not invite her in, but left the door open as she removed her shoes. Emma took this an an invitation and followed her indoors.

Regina kicked her shoes off by the door, not bothering to tidy them away as she usually would. Her coat was flung on the floor as Regina slowly made her way upstairs. She wasn't in the mood for conversation or wine by the fire- thinking of that only reminded her Robin and her eyes filled again. Emma heard a sob come from halfway up the stairs and ran towards it, frowning when she realised Regina must have run up to her room- just like the teenager she tried not to be.

Emma went back to lock the front door and hang Regina's coat- just because she was upset now doesn't mean she won't be back to perfectionism the next morning- and place her shoes in the shoe cupboard.

She hung her coat on the hook next to Regina's and headed for the kitchen. Since her and Henry had been living there for the past two months, Emma was now accustomed to all the fancy things Regina had loitering in her kitchen and knew, thanks to Henry's teachings, how to make the perfect hot chocolate.

Minutes later, Emma was wandering up the stairs to Regina's room. She stood outside for a moment, listening for any indications of Regina's mood, but she heard nothing. So she took at deep breath and knocked on her door softly. "Regina?"

There was no response. Emma waited for a minute before slowly opening the door and glancing inside. The room was in darkness, but she could still see the body curled up on Regina's bed, her face lit by the alarm clock. She had been crying again. Emma swallowed and entered the room, shutting the door behind her.

"I made cocoa," Emma whispered, but there was no response from her. Emma walked over and placed the drink on her bedside table, sitting on the edge of her bed. "Come on, Regina... I hate seeing you sad," Emma said gently.

Regina looked at Emma and shifted her hand to clutch hers. "You don't mean that, dear."

Emma shook her head and held on tight to Regina's hand. She was glad the room was dark so Regina wouldn't see how flushed her cheeks were. "No, no I do, Regina. I do, I hate when you're sad and I hate it because you don't deserve it... having lived here... you're not a bad person," Emma rushed out, making Regina smile hopefully. "And I know that-"

"Emma, stop," Regina whispered, moving so she get closer to the blonde. Emma bit her lip and looked down. "I'm not that sad any more," she said and Emma looked up, opening her mouth to speak but Regina covered it with her finger.

"Emma, I... I need to confess something to you," Emma remained quiet as Regina braced herself to speak. "I- I like you, Emma." Emma gasped, but Regina continued quickly. "I know you don't like me, and that's what happened with Robin. I'm tired of being alone, but people thinking of me as 'The Evil Queen'... I guess I thought that if I met someone, married someone, everyone would see me in a different light and I would be able to get over you... I guess-"

Regina was silenced when Emma pressed her lips on hers, cutting off the end of her speech. Regina gasped into the kiss, but that only allowed Emma to push it further, her tongue dipping into Regina's mouth.

Regina responded, melting into Emma, and clutching her hair as Emma's hands ran through Regina's. The two pulled back, gasping for air. Regina looked at her, eyes wide, "Emma-"

"I've been wanting to do that since I moved in," Emma said, grinning stupidly.

Regina smiled at her, panting and pushing a strand of blonde behind Emma's ear. "Guess you like me a little then?" she teased and Emma grinned.

"Well, maybe a little," Regina kissed her softly and Emma pulled back, resting her forehead on Regina's. "Okay, maybe a lot."