Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time. The characters, names etc. belong to their creators.

A/N: Dear inhabitants of the World of Fanfiction, I'm very nervous to publish this and am still not sure if I really should. But hey...maybe it is worth a try. We'll see. I'm open for any form of criticism as long as you guys are polite and respectful. If there are a lot of mistakes in it I apologize in advance. Happy reading!

-DA

Prologue

She had placed the letter carefully on top of the pillow and was now standing at the door, not able to hold back the tears any longer. She had decided against turning the lights on so everything would go unnoticed.

Hopefully.

Surrounded by darkness she tried to calm herself by repeating the same line over and over again in her mind:

This is for the best.

She cried silently, of course. Although nobody was here to witness this moment of weakness. They had all gone out. Like nothing had happened.

This is for the best.

There was this tearing ache buried deep inside her chest which caused her troubles to breath. It was like a heavy stone, weighing down on her windpipe, giving her a feeling of suffocation.

It wasn't like her whole body was shaking but in fact she hadn't cried this hard since she had been this little girl who had always tried to be good enough but never had been. And still wasn't.

The woman closed her eyes, tried to take a deep breath and regain her composure.

And then faltered. Miserably.

She reached out for the door frame to steady herself, grabbing the dark wood as if her life depended on it.

When had she become so weak?

It was so silent, there was nothing to be heard except for her heavy breaths, the almost unnoticable sobbing and the rain.

"Screw this!" She hissed, determined to convince herself that she didn't care as much as she actually did.

She cast one last glance into the room where the envelope throned on the dark blue pillow, then she closed the door in an instant, knowing that if she didn't let go now, she would never leave.

One last deep breath, one last look around the familiar walls of her home.

No...not her home anymore.

She pulled herself together. She had to. The desperate look on her face turned into one of determination and coldness. At the moment she just couldn't allow her emotions to take over and cloud her will. There was time for that later.

The woman rushed downstairs, shrugged on her coat, put her house keys on the kitchen table, grabbed her car keys and the few bags and never looked back.

Outside the heavy drops of rain fell from the dark nighty sky – cold and merciless, but also relieving.

When all her things were stored in the trunk of the black Mercedes she turned once more.

So much had happened.

How could she have gone so far?

How could she have allowed herself to lose control in such an extent?

The house looked so peaceful. Quite an irony.

A car passed by and the lone woman whirled around, afraid of getting caught leaving.

The back lights vanished as the unknown vehicle turned around the next corner, leaving her on her own again.

Her gaze wandered back. She felt lost, wanted to hide.

"Don't be ridiculous..." She muttered to herself, meanwhile getting angry for not being able to just depart.

If there weren't all these memories...

Good memories – From long before her life had been turned upside down.

Bad memories, romantic memories...horrible ones...erotic ones...

She shook her head, trying to clear her mind.

"Enough!" She growled, turned on her heel and got in her car.

Hitting the gas pedal, the tires made a screeching sound as she disappeared into the darkness of the night.

She couldn't stay in Boston, that was for sure. In fact she hadn't thought much further than packing her things and vanish. Where was she supposed to go?

Well, it wasn't like she had no friends she'd be able to...let's say pay a visit. But she wasn't able to face anyone right now.

Who would have guessed that the life of Regina Mills would take such a tragic turn after all?

She had worked so hard for this life. So hard.

The brunette cramped her slim fingers around the steering wheel as she headed towards the highway.

Meanwhile, her vision was blurred, hot tears streamed down her cheeks ruining her make-up.

Now there was no going back. Not anymore. To be honest – probably there never had been. Not since she realized what was going on. And by the time she had figured it all out for herself she knew it was too late.

If they'd be home by now?

Her phone was turned off so there was no way of convincing her to change her mind.

The brunette hadn't even paid attention to where she was driving. Now, passing by a sign that told her she was heading south, a bitter laugh escaped her lips. This was insane.

Lately she had been wondering from time to time when she'll wake up from this nightmare...

It had only gotten worse...

It seemed like everyone kept going, she was falling behind.

Her heart felt heavy, pulling her down and making her weak. But her mind knew better than to be foolish and give in.

Give in and allow herself to love Emma.

Emma...

When Regina closed her eyes she saw that name written on the back of her eyelids. She just couldn't erase it.

That characteristic beautiful face of the young woman kept her from sleeping, made her go wild at times and tripled her heartrate.

Emma made everything seem so easy. She didn't care. She had told Regina that the only thing that mattered were here feelings...and even more important, that the brunette felt the same...

Was it so?

Was it that simple?

Just let love happen when it seeks you out? Trust your heart? Even if everything stands against it? Even if it was just wrong? Like in Not-supposed-to-be?

She clenched her teeth, narrowed her eyes and released a breath she wasn't even aware of holding.

The brunette drove way too fast and considering the pouring rain, it made this whole action almost life threatening.

Regina didn't care. She'd rather die than having to feel this steady pounding ache.

No, she couldn't think like that. She had to stop acting like a pathetic fool, for christ's sake!

It was just love, wasn't it? It would fade...sooner or later, right?

Just love.

Regina Mills let out a suppressed scream through gritted teeth and hit the gas pedal even harder.

There was no going back.

This is for the best.

And with that she vanished further into the darkness, heading towards a new life and leaving the old one behind.