Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Once Upon a Time or Just Like Heaven (From which I borrowed the premise of this story)

Just Between Us

By MegannRosemary

Damn, it was bigger than she'd remembered. Emma pulled her beat up yellow Bug into the driveway of 108 Mifflin Street. She climbed from the car, stretching her legs after the long drive and gazed up at the large white mansion.

When she'd been hired as the Sherriff of the small town of Storybrooke, there hadn't been many options when it came to housing. There were a few apartments by the cannery that smelled like fish and then there was this place, fully furnished and dirt cheap. If she and Henry were going to leave the big city for small town life, then she was going to go all out, to live the American Dream. She was bound and determined to give her ten year old son, Henry, a real home with a yard and his own room, a place where he could truly belong.

And herself, dare she dream that this would be the place where she belonged.

As it was, everything that was important to her she'd packed in the back of her Bug. A few boxes of linens and pots and pans, a battered suitcase full of clothes, and her special box. It wasn't much, but to Emma it was everything, after a childhood of nothing.

Neal, her ex, was bringing Henry out the next week, as well as all his stuff. He'd bargained for a weeklong visit with their son since he wouldn't see the kid until Christmas. She owed it to him.

She should have been thankful that they hadn't had to rent a truck to move everything together. But it would have been a small price to pay, for all too soon she was alone in the big house, with only her thoughts for company. It took her less than an hour to unpack the stuff she'd brought. Enough time to make the bed and shove her clothes into the beautiful mahogany drawers in the large walk in closet. They looked wrong, her plain t-shirts and worn jeans, belonging to another world. It taunted her, told her to go back to the big city, to their dingy apartment, to forget about the small town dream.

She laughed bitterly to herself; she never belonged anywhere, not truly. She'd hoped this new town would be different, a new start for them, a true home. One hour was all it took and she wanted to run far, far away, away from this big house, her dreams, the possibility of a future.

She snagged a beer from the fridge, it hadn't been there long and it was still lukewarm. She drank it anyways as she wandered though the large empty house.

Alone, always alone.

Growing up she'd had no one, as she bounced from group home to foster family to more group homes and finally to the streets. She was always the outsider, the burden, the freak. Only once had she felt like she had her own family. She'd been three and she'd lived with a family until they had their own baby and they gave her back. The greatest pain of all was that remembered what it was like to be loved, it was a soft voice in her ear reading her Winnie the Pooh, a mug of hot chocolate with cinnamon sprinkled on the top, a scarf tied around her neck and pulled up over her nose. It was better to never have been loved at all, then to feel the miserable aching hole in her heart. She lived the rest of her life longing for love, trying to get that feeling back.

She pulled another beer from the fridge, twisting off the cap and throwing it in the sink.

Her search for love got her in trouble at seventeen. She met Neal, he was older and a little bit of a bad, boy, but he took care of her and he loved her. She wanted so badly to love and be loved, to be part of a family, she let herself get seduced into a life that she didn't truly want. At 17 she was pregnant and it was her chance to have a family that she'd always dreamed of. She loved Henry more than anything, and she wouldn't change it for the world. But she spent five years trapped in a relationship that made her skin crawl. She tried hard to ignore it, for family, but in the end she couldn't be with him, couldn't be with a man.

She downed a third beer to chase the disturbing memories back to the recesses of her mind.

Since then there had been many a one night stands with gorgeous women, because her longer lasting relationships never made it too far, in the end she always ran. With women, she felt that deep emotional connection that she longed for, something she'd never come close to feeling with Neal in five years that they were together. With women it came on fast and strong, it was kind and it warm. It scared her. It was too close to that feeling of love she'd first and only experienced at the age of three. She couldn't bear to let herself feel that again, only for it to be taken from her. She didn't deserve that kind of happiness. So she ran. She ran from the feelings as much as she'd spent her whole life running to them.

Another beer and another speeding train of thoughts that whipped though her, taunting her.

And still she'd come running here to Storybrooke to find that happiness, to find that love. This was her chance to make a home for her and Henry, to find a place where they belonged. She was a vibrant paradox, shivering and shuddering, hoping and fearing the finish line.

She paced to the kitchen for another beer, refreshing and cold now, and a bag of cheetos. Then she stomped to the living room and collapsed on the couch to catch the end of a baseball game.

"You should put a coaster under that bottle dear, you'll ruin the wood."

Emma jumped, spilling cheetos and orange dust down her shirt front and over the couch cushions, "What the hell?"

She was gorgeous at least, this woman suddenly standing in front of her. Hands on her hips, she glared at the cold bottle of beer that was dripping condensation onto the coffee table.

"Where did you even come from?"

"This is my house. I don't know what you think you're doing here, wrecking my furniture."

For a crazy lady she was pretty hot. Dressed in slacks, a white blouse and a sexy ass vest, she looked at once severe and graceful. Dark hair fell in soft waves to her shoulders and Emma momentarily wondered what it would be like to have her hands tangled in its silky strands. Her lips pursed in disgust, they were full and painted a sexy dark red. A scar, just above her lip, that looked entirely kissable. "Uhmmm, actually I'm renting this place. I got the keys today, I moved in….I'm Emma Swan."

The woman glanced with disdain at Emma's outstretched hand, her fingers orange with cheeto dust, "I'm Regina Mills and this is my house."

"Look I'll show you the papers, and then I'm going to have to call the cops. In fact," She slurred, chucking to herself at her own wit, "I am the cops, almost." She stumbled slightly getting to her feet and padded to the front hall to grab the rental agreement.

"Look," She waved the document, "Look at today's date and my name-" The living room was empty. "Where the hell did you go lady, this isn't funny."

Shit. She was buzzed.

She popped open the last beer and it wasn't long before she was passed out on the couch.

When she woke up the next morning with a kink in her neck and a cheeto in her bra, she was convinced that the night before had been nothing but an alcohol induced vivid dream.

"I'm sensing a pattern here."

"Good god woman," Emma startled, spilling beer down her front.

The brunette positioned herself between Emma and the TV, arms crossed over her chest. "Another sloppy night in front of the TV, I think you're getting a little belly there," She continued with a shake of her head.

"What? No I'm not." Emma lifted her shirt and patted her belly, "I'm ripped lady."

She blushed and averted her gaze, "I… I can see that dear. You may put your shirt down."

"What, don't like what you see?" Emma smirked.

"On the contrary…" She coughed and chanced another glance.

Emma winked conspiratorially, "So what is this, another dream? A prank?" It had been three days since the gorgeous woman had first appeared and she had to admit that her observations concerning her nightly routine were in fact correct. Emma had spent all three nights vegged out in front of the TV, making her way through a six pack of beer and a bag of some salty snack or other.

"This is my house and someone appears to have rented it to you by mistake." She began to pace, her dark eyes flashing with irritation.

"Look there was no one here when I came to look at the place, no one even mentioned the previous owner." Emma sat up, reaching for a handful of popcorn. ¨And also, where have you been the past few days anyways."

"I was…I was…" She paled, her voice shaking with uncertainly, "I was here of course."

"Bullshit, I never see you around.¨ Emma challenged, "You just appear at random and scare me to death."

"I'm….I…" She turned on her heel and slipped quickly from the room.

The blonde shook her head and spoke to the now empty room, "I've got to stop drinking like this man, I'm looking my mind."

But there were two innings left in the game and she didn't feel like facing them empty handed and clear headed.

Damnit if the crazy lady didn't get to me. The next morning had her dragging herself out of bed and going for a run.

As the sun came up, a bright golden ball rising from the trees, she explored the small town she would learn to hall her home. The quaint storefronts along Main Street were pretty cute, and she wondered if she might find a postcard to send to August. He was her one connection from her childhood, a foster brother, and now her only friend. Cute little stores didn't come close to the lemurs and lions that populated his adventures, but he always liked hearing from her, she knew that.

She ran past the school where Henry would start at in a couple of weeks, an elementary and high school all rolled into one. She wondered if they would stay here long enough for him to go to high school, or would she run again.

She got a good look at the Sheriff's department, with a single cruiser parked in front, and she found herself looking forward to working there.

There was a good old fashioned diner, with a red and white sign that boasted a four ninety-nine all-inclusive breakfast. Next to take out Chinese, she and the kid lived for diner food, breakfast, lunch and dinner. The bell rang above the door as she ran by, and she knew a good many meals would be spent there.

She finished her run through the woods that surrounded the town. It was peaceful in the woods, where it was lush and green and where a fine mist filtered through the heavy canopy of leaves above her head. The needle covered paths were soft beneath her feet, her steps barely making a sound.

In the comforting arms of the trees, a sliver of hope, and a shiver of excitement crept into her head and she dared to believe that this would actually be the place where she would finally belong.

The late August sun brought a faint layer of humidity over the early morning and she was glad to come back to an air conditioned home. She tramped through the house and stuck her head under the tap for a much needed drink.

"You tracked mud though my house."

"Damnit," Emma jolted upright, hitting her head on the faucet on the way up. "You have got to stop doing that."

Regina paused, taking in the blonde's sweat slicked body, scantily clad in a sports bra and shorts. Her gaze lingered over her powerful legs and arms, her flat muscled stomach. "I—I'm so sorry, let me get you some ice." She reached for the freezer door, and her hand fell through the handle.

"Holy crap!" Emma exclaimed, "You're dead."

"No I'm not…I'm not…" She whispered, colour leaching from her skin and her hands began to shake.

"You're a freaking ghost."

"Stop saying that." Determination ticked a muscle in her cheek as she tried again to open the door. Panic rose in deep brown eyes as her hand passed through the door a second time.

She ran from the room.

"I'm sorry Regina, I'm so sorry!" Emma looked around helplessly, "Look, I won't call you a ghost anymore, I'm sorry."

But she didn't appear.

Emma put her shoes away in the front hall and mopped up the mud in vain hopes Regina would reappear. "Come on out Regina, It's all clean."

Not a whisper.

Was she going crazy? A few days on her own and here she was talking to ghost. That, or she was talking to herself.

Either way she was nuts.

And she couldn't blame it on the beer anymore.

Much later when she sank down on the couch to watch the game, she tried again to coax the woman from hiding. "I'm about to put my beer down on the table without a coaster. I'm going to do it."

Still, when she didn't appear, Emma guiltily placed the bottle on a coaster.

She began to worry. Worry over a ghost? Really?

She took herself too bed, only to be woken in the middle of the night by someone crying.

When she turned on the light, it was Regina who lay in the bed beside her, beautiful Regina with tears streaming down her face, her body shaking with sobs. "I'm dead. Emma, I'm dead."

"Oh hey now, don't say that."

"I'm dead, that's the truth isn't it." She laughed bitterly, "I'm a freaking ghost."

"Uh well…"

"Your words in fact."

"I'm so sorry Regina."

"Do you think that you could help me find out what happened to me?" Her voice was small and scared, more belonging to a child after waking up from a nightmare. Only Regina couldn't wake up, she was living the nightmare, not quite existing but still present and tortured.

"I… Of course." It was the least she could do after shattering her world. "Do you remember anything at all?"

"N-N-No." Panicked sobs tore though her small frame.

"Hey now, there, there, it's going to be all right." She went to rub her back, to trace small infinities in a soothing pattern, like she would when Henry came to her bed crying. But she thought better of it, thinking her hands would pass though the woman beside her, a frightening reminder at her ghostly reality.

A barking laugh, a sniffle of tears, "How can you say that, I'm dead, there's no way that it's going to be alright."

"I…" She got her there.

"Emma?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I stay here tonight? With you?"

The words that fell from her lips, were so quiet and full of terror that she longed to pull the petite woman into her arms. "Of course."

"Thanks." Her eyes fluttered shut, tears still leaking from beneath full dark lashes.

"Night Regina," She whispered and turned out the light.

"Goodnight."