A little editing. Chapter one and two have been combined!

"Dear Regina,

By the time you read this, I'll be gone. I'd always hoped that it wouldn't come to this. I love you so much, but we could never work out. There's too much between us. There's too many complications in my life. You always thought you could make me stay, but I'm a runner. So here I am, running. I didn't want to give you any of the typical lines. The, "It's not you, it' me." The "I just can't be loved." Or any of the other bullshit people sell each other to ease the pain. Because that's all that is. A load of cliché bull shit that people give each other to hide the fact that people suck. That they do shitty things to each other. I never wanted to hurt you, and I never wanted to give you any more shit, because I know what you've been through. I know you've suffered. I don't want you to suffer over me. I don't want you to feel the pain that this will probably bring you. The problem here is me. It is my fault. There are things I never told you, and I haven't been able to get the words quite right. You don't know things I've done in my life. You don't know who I was before we met, and I was always afraid you would find out.

I'm looking at you now, as I sit here writing this letter, this goodbye letter to you. You had too much to drink last night. That's not normal for you, you know, but I had to make sure that you wouldn't wake up while I said goodbye. I couldn't bear it. You look so peaceful right now. In the daytime you're a fearsome woman. But right now, when I stop and look up, you're so peaceful. You're still beautiful; you're always beautiful. But looking at you, in this peaceful moment, I almost can't go. But then I remember that I have to. I just wanted to leave you this, something to remember me by. Because I have every intention of being unreachable. I know how to find people, so I know how the best of them hide themselves. Just, as you read this, know that you're perfect. You were everything I wanted and more, and I never want you to forget that.

The day we met will be forever burned into my mind. There's something about having your life forever changed that stays with you. I won't pretend that meeting you changed me immediately. The earth didn't shake. My breath wasn't gone from my body. In fact, you insulted me. I'm sure you remember. And in case you don't, let me remind you. I never meant to be in Storybrooke. Storybrooke right? What kind of place is named Storybrooke? I was lost. I don't know if we ever talked about how I ended up here, which is weird. I mean, the one wrong turn that changed my life, and we never discussed it. We should have talked about it, just so you would know. There's so much you didn't know.

That day, the first day in August, as a matter of fact, I was supposed to be on my way to apprehend a guy that had skipped out on his bail. I'd tracked his email account and knew that he'd be about thirty miles from this small town you live in. I'd driven five hours to apprehend him, and right outside of Storybrooke my GPS quit. My cell phone wouldn't pick up Google Maps, so I'd pulled over for directions. The first place in town that looked inhabited by people was this little diner, Granny's. Sometimes when you're a bailbonds person there's competition. This guy, James, a real jackass if I'd ever met one, was competing for my bounty. I hadn't had a minute to spare, so I'd literally ran into Granny's. And into you.

You were leaving Granny's with a coffee, or hot chocolate, or something like that. It didn't matter what it used to be, because after we met it was nothing but a mess. That hot coffee spilled all down the front of my shirt, and I leapt back from you, holding the scalding shirt off of my stomach and gasping in pain. Do you remember what you said while I stood there squealing in pain like a child? You said, "I'd apologize, if it wasn't for the fact that that was so blatantly your own fault. Did your mother never teach you any manners?" I didn't answer you, because I was being burned to death by your scalding hot coffee/hot chocolate. Ruby, though I didn't know that was her name at the time, came running over with a wet towel to try and help me get the burning liquid off. She covered me with, 'Oh my goodness's' and 'Are you ok's' until I couldn't stand it anymore. But I was busy watching you leave. Because who does things like that? Who talks to people like that about things that are clearly accidents? So I did the only logical thing. I said to Ruby, "Who was that woman?"

She looked up from my shirt, which was clearly ruined, and answered me, thinly veiled disgust in her voice. "Oh. That's Mayor Mills. Don't take it personal, she treats everybody like that. You get used to it." She looked back down at my shirt. "That coffee was really hot. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I placed one hand on my stomach, and immediately knew I wasn't fine. The skin was hot to the touch, and my face must have grimaced in pain, because Ruby wasn't buying it for a second. "Dr. Whale!" She called. "Can you come here?" Whale had come over, dressed in plain clothes but still wearing all the authority of a surgeon. "What's up Ruby?"

"This woman…uh…" She looked at me, and I'd had no option but to give her my name. "Emma." "Emma got burned by Mayor Mills' drink."

"Well…" Whale checked his watch. "I mean, I'm off at the hospital for the next few hours." He'd looked me up and down, and my skin crawled. "I'll just look at it for free." He'd gently taken my wrist. My arm had been burned a little too. He turned it left and right. "Well that's not too bad." He touched it gently. "Did that hurt?"

I yanked my arm back, pissed. "Yeah that hurt, I just got burned!"

"Good. I'd be more worried if it didn't hurt. It's just a first degree burn, you'll be fine. This is easily fixed. I'd say get some burn cream, go take a cool shower, and put a bandage over it. No worries."

"I don't have time for this! I'm in a hurry!" As if to punctuate that sentence my phone rang. I snapped it open. "Swan."

"Oh hey Emma. Guess who?" The smug voice of James was on the line, and I knew what he was going to say. "Someone wants to say hi. Say hey Killian!" He yelled to someone in the back ground. An angry voice shouted, 'Let me go you swine!' James laughed. "Just letting you know you're too late, as usual. Have a nice night Swan!" He hung up before I had a chance to reply. I looked at the doctor and Ruby who were still in front of me.

"Well, it looks like I suddenly have lots of time. Is there a place I can get a shower?"

Ruby looked ecstatic. "Yes! Me and my Granny run an Inn. You can rent a room there overnight!"

"Overnight?" I'd had no intention of staying here overnight, but as I thought about it I'd realized how late it was getting anyways. And with nowhere to hurry to, I might as well stay.

"Yeah. I'll take you to the inn and get you checked in. First let's go to the drugstore and get you a burn cream. You'll need it after your shower." Ruby and I went to the drugstore, I grabbed my overnight bag from my car, and I checked into the Inn. There was no wireless internet, the tv was old school, and the bathroom tub had claws. It was like being blasted ten years into the past. Late that night, while I was lying in bed, seething over losing to James again, I'd thought of the hateful look on your face, Regina. My anger burned brighter, and I was determined to raise hell the next morning."

Honestly, by the time I finish this story it could be condensed into one long story, but I want to make sure people care before I devote too much time into the whole thing. So let me know if it's worth continuing!