NOTE: This is going to be multi-chapter work for the Swan Queen Week on Tumblr. Like most of my writings, I am not entirely sure where the story is going to go.

Also I do not own OUAT or its characters (like you didn' t know)

In a way Emma considered herself a bit of an expert on Regina Mills. From the moment she met the other woman their lives had been bound in a way Emma could never have predicted. Her first observations of the other woman came from her efforts to essentially spy on her as Henry tried to convince her that his adopted mother was the Evil Queen from a fairy tale.

Then things slowly changed.

The moment Emma started to believe that Regina may not be what people perceived her to be came when she was ready to sacrifice herself to delay the fail safe device. When the mayor looked her in the eyes and pleaded with her to let Henry know that she died as Regina – that was the moment Emma knew there was a depth of hidden pain, but strong character in her.

They managed to work together to save Henry in Neverland, but when they returned to Storybrooke turmoil followed them. Yet Regina's love for Henry had never wavered, even as she gave him to Emma's care – erasing their memories but giving them a shared past.

But then it all started to change again, not for the better and it was because of Emma's actions that Regina would no longer speak to her unless it was an absolute necessity.

The rift between them, caused by Emma's saving of Marian, felt permanent to Emma. And maybe it was because of her feelings of guilt that she failed when she should have been more of an expert on Regina Mills.

…

The black Mercedes sped down Hebron Street onto Canal Road when Emma tagged it for speeding. She pulled out, began to follow it, turning on her lights to get it to pull over. Once it did Emma took a deep breath before getting out of her cruiser. It looked like this would be one of those absolute necessary times for her to speak to Regina. She could hardly believe she had caught her speeding – and so excessively – as she knew Regina tended to drive very sensibly.

She walked along the side of the car seeing the driver's side window slide down and preparing for what was sure to be an icy, stiff, and completely uncomfortable conversation.

When she got to the door it wasn't Regina in the driver's seat.

"Dr. Whale," she said in confusion, taking a step back to look at the car. This was definitely Regina's Mercedes. No one in town had a car like this.

Whale noticed her examination.

"Sorry sheriff, just taking my new wheels out for a test run," he said handing over his license.

"This is Regina's car, isn't it?"

"Not anymore. She sold it to me the other day. Quite a steal it was," he said. "If you ever want to go for a ride, let me know."

"No thanks," she said. "I'll be right back."

She walked back to her cruiser to run his license and she checked his registration. The car was indeed his. Why would Regina sell her Mercedes? Next to Henry that car may the thing she most cherished in this world. Perhaps she got a new one, Emma thought.

Either way it was none of her business, she told herself. She finished up ticketing Whale for the speeding violation, and put the encounter from her mind.

...

Henry watched as his mom Regina picked at her food. She seemed to be eating less these days. Most of the time he was around her lately, she was making a noticeable effort to be more relaxed and having fun with him – even letting teach her how to play a video game with him. Tonight though, tonight she was withdrawn.

She finally gave up eating all together, asking him a few questions while continued to eat. "Are you not hungry?" he asked finally.

"I had a big lunch," she said, lapsing into silence. He had noticed her doing that a lot more lately too.

He wondered if she was still sad over Robin. He didn't dare ask her that, but he did have something he needed to ask her.

"Um, Emma was wondering if you could switch weekends with her." They had a standard every Wednesday and every other weekend arrangement going on. He lived mainly with Emma, a decision that surprised him and Emma when Regina made it, saying that Henry needed stability. That had happened a little more than a month ago. Before that he would live one week with Emma and one week with Regina.

He worried about his mom being all alone here in the mansion.

"When does she want to switch?"

"She wanted to see if you could take me this weekend and then she would have me the next."

She looked away a moment and then turned back. "You know I wish I could have you here all the time, right?"

"Yes, I know," he said thinking she sounded sad and he felt bad about asking the question.

"Good. I don't want you to think that I don't, but I can't switch this weekend."

"Ok," he said. "I'll let Emma know."

Henry was typically a deep sleeper, but he happened to be awake when he heard his mom's door open, and then heard her go downstairs. When she didn't return after a while, he slipped out of bed and went to find her. He got to the bottom floor and looked around, seeing a light coming from under the door to the bathroom. There was a bathroom upstairs and one in her room, so he didn't know why she would come downstairs to use one.

He got closer to the door and heard the sound of puking – dry heaving more like it. He was about to knock and ask if she was ok when he heard the toilet flush. Losing his nerve, he fled back upstairs. Still it was 10 more minutes before he heard Regina return to her room.

…

Emma waited for Regina's secretary to let her in, refusing to sit down to wait. When she was finally admitted, she didn't wait to get to the desk before speaking.

"Why can't we switch weekends?"

"It doesn't work for me to switch on such short notice."

"And how much notice do you need for such things?"

"How about a month,"

"A month? You are unbelieveable. I get that you are pissed with me Regina," she said leaning over the desk. "But I thought you were a better person than to use Henry as a tactic in this whatever this is between us – a Cold War."

"Is that what you think? No, don't answer that, of course you do. You want to switch weekends, fine, drop Henry off tomorrow after school. After all, whatever you have going on is clearly more important."

Emma backed off a moment. She really looked at Regina for the first time and it struck her that she seemed paler. And had she lost weight on her already thin frame?

"I didn't say what I was doing was more important," Emma said trying to soften the edge out of her voice.

"I don't care what you are doing. In the future …" she paused. "Never mind. I'll take him this weekend, you have the next weekend and the one after that so we can get back to the original schedule we agreed to."

"Fine."