Help Me Forget

Chapter 2

The silence woke her. Emma's eyes popped open, taking in the room around her. She was in her parent's apartment, and light was streaming in through the windows. Frowning, Emma rolled over to face her clock.

8:00AM blinked back at her.

Emma listened intently for any signs of life; it was never this silent in the loft. Usually, life with her parents was hectic; someone was up at all hours with he baby, and David never slept past 6:30. Frowning again, Emma rolled out of bed and crept down the stairs.

Strangely enough, Snow and David were fast asleep, and Neal was in his crib. Shrugging, Emma climbed back up the stairs to tug on a pair of jeans and her leather jacket. Less than 10 minutes later, she was out the door and on her way to Granny's, successfully not waking anyone.

As soon as the bell above the door had indicated her arrival, Ruby appeared at her side.

"Hey Emma! Lemme guess." Ruby smirked, pretending to think for a minute. "You want a bear-claw and hot cocoa with cinnamon."

"I don't just want it, I need it, Rubes." Emma laughed, winking.

"Oh, ha-ha." Ruby rolled her eyes, "I'll have it over in a minute."

Emma made her way to the corner booth, scrolling through her messages. There was nothing important, nor interesting. Unsurprisingly, the entire town had gotten her phone number, most likely as part of Mary Margaret's attempts to get Emma to ease into her 'savior' role. Now it seemed that every time some one so much as stubbed their toe, she got a message about it.

"Here you go Ems!" Ruby chirped.

Emma put down her phone, thanking Ruby and taking a sip of cocoa. Her phone went off not even two seconds later. Rolling her eyes, Emma picked the device up and answered it, not bothering to check the caller ID.

"Emma Swan." She deadpanned, biting her bear-claw.

"Ma?"

"Henry?" Emma gasped, "I'm sorry kid, what's up? Is everything okay? Where are you?"

"I... um...I decided to walk to Mom's this morning and—"

"Henry! You could've woken me up and asked for a ride! My god kid...I-I, Regina's gonna kill me." Emma stuttered.

"Mom! That's what I'm trying to tell you!"

Emma paused, brows knitting together, "What?"

"Mom's not here, I can't find her."

The blonde flew from her seat, tossing a ten dollar bill on the table. She was out the door and a block down the street before she regained her wits. Pressing her phone back to her ear, she started frantically gasping,

"Henry, are you at the house? Oh my god, oh my god, damnit!"

"Yeah, I'm in the dinning room."

Emma was sprinting now, making her way as quickly as possible to 108 Mifflin Street.

"I'll be there in a minute kid." Emma gasped, "I'm coming."

"Jeez Ma, it's not like the world is ending." Henry chuckled half-heartedly.

The doorbell rang, and pounding on the door ensued. Henry jumped up and unlocked the door to a disheveled Emma. The blonde practically threw herself at her son, gripping him in a ribcage-crushing hug.

"I'm so sorry, Henry. I completely forgot you were at the apartment last night, when I woke up, I thought you were with Regina. I-I didn't realize until you told me you walked, oh Henry... don't do that again, please."

"Mom! I'm fine, see?" Henry gestured to his body, which was completely unscathed. "Did you really run all the way here?"

"Yeah, kid." Emma smirked, running her hand through his hair. "Now what's going on? Regina's missing?"

"Yeah, I can't find her anywhere, and her bed is unmade."

Emma frowned, her heartbeat speeding up. That wasn't like Regina. Where was she? Did this have something to do with her behavior yesterday? Is she okay? Did she know this was going to happen? Did someone hurt her? Did-

Emma's thoughts were cut of by Henry, who was shaking her shoulders.

"Mom! What do we do?"

Emma's thoughts scattered helplessly. She tried desperately to think of where Regina might be.

"Uh... her vault?"

With fierce determination, Henry dragged her out of the mansion, "I thought of that too. Let's go!"

...

Regina woke up to something cold pressed to her cheek, and a weight on top of her. Groggily, she opened her eyes to meet messy brown hair and whisky colored eyes. Regaining her senses, she realized firstly that she was lying on a cold tile floor, and secondly, there was a young boy on top of her. The boy was talking animately, but she couldn't hear anything the he was saying.

"... must've come down here last night."

Regina regained her hearing, and sat up slowly, only to be met face to face with the most gorgeous woman she's ever seen in her life.

"Oh, Regina, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" The blonde woman asked.

"Yeah, I think so..." Regina stood up, not missing the mystified look on the blonde's face, "Um... where am I?" The brunette looked around, a puzzled expression on her face, "Did I intrude on you?" The gorgeous woman's jaw dropped open, an incredulous look on her face. Regina took that as a yes. "I'm very sorry, truly. I'll go now." Regina made haste toward the exit she'd spotted earlier, head down.

"Mom? Are you okay?" The young boy stopped her, looking up at her with concern. Regina frowned, Mom? She's never seen this boy before in her life, although something in his expression told her that he clearly thought he knew her.

"I'm sorry, what's your name?" She asked softly. The boy's face fell, and an emotion she couldn't place flashed across his face. He turned to the blonde, tears in his eyes, "She doesn't remember..."

The boy's voice made her heart break, she didn't mean to make him so upset. She too, looked to the blonde for assistance.

"Hi, Regina... I'm Emma." The woman spoke softly, "And this is Henry."

At this, Regina grinned, "My father's name is Henry, it's a lovely name." She chuckled, "Do you know him? Prince Henry?"

The blonde, Emma, gasped quietly, "Oh Regina, what did you do?"

The brunette squirmed uncomfortably. Did she do something wrong? She didn't mean to... was Emma mad at her? Emma, noticing the brunette's squeamishness, took a step toward her.

"Regina? Let's get you out of here... I think we have to talk."