The Beginning of the End?
Emma’s sandwich was a crime. Squished, lukewarm, and flavoured with regret. A fitting metaphor for her life at the moment.
Across the room, her parents were being… gross. Mary Margaret was tucked into David’s side, all smiles and whispered words, like they weren’t in a government building but in the middle of some Nicholas Sparks novel. Emma made a mental note to tell them to get a hobby.
To her left, Graham chuckled at his phone, shaking his head in that “Wow, I have the best girlfriend ever” way that made Emma consider throwing her sandwich at him.
“What’s so funny?” she grumbled, prodding a particularly sad piece of lettuce.
Graham waved his phone, his grin too wide, not noticing Emma’s face tighten. "Libbie’s got some jokes, huh?"
She squinted at the screen. It was a meme. A stupid one. Something about a kitten looking guilty with the caption: Me sneaking into the kitchen for snacks at 2 AM.
“That’s not even funny,” Emma said flatly.
Graham smirked. “You’re just bitter because you’re not in a happy relationship.”
Emma opened her mouth to argue because, excuse you, she had been in a happy relationship, thank you very much, but then the door swung open, and her whole world tilted.
Regina.
The first time she’d walked out, it had been morning. Bright. Golden. The kind of summer that made everything seem warm and safe, except it hadn’t been. Not for Emma.
Regina had sat her and Henry down at the breakfast table, hands folded neatly, expression unreadable. I need some space.
At first, Emma had thought, ok, space, sure. They had been married for two years. They had gone through worse. They would figure it out.
Then, it got real.
Separate weekends for Henry. The first handoff had felt like a gut punch. Henry, oblivious, had just shrugged and said, “See you Sunday, Mom.” Emma had waved him off like it was fine. Regina hadn’t even looked at her as she shut the door.
Regina didn’t call after that either. There was no word about Henry’s school projects. Not about late-night town crises (yes, even though she was the sheriff and was obligated to know these things). Not about anything.
And then the slip.
It happened on the phone, a casual conversation about their son’s schedule. “Yeah, I’ll pick him up after work and bring him-”
She bit on her tongue a bit too late. Regina’s silence said it all through the receiver. Emma had swallowed hard. “To your place.”
Regina’s voice had been clipped, business-like. “Right.”
Now, weeks later, the brunette walked into the station with the same confidence that made Emma both irritated and heartbroken. She wore that deep red coat the blonde definitely didn’t still dream about, and her heels clicked against the floor in a way that was both powerful and unfairly attractive.
Emma sat up instinctively, straightening her lilac shirt. It wasn’t because of Regina, obviously. Just… posture was important.
“Madam Mayor,” Mary Margaret greeted sincerely, detaching herself from David long enough to offer a smile.
“Mary Margaret,” Regina responded, her voice smoother than should be legal. “Charming.”
David chuckled. “You know, I think we’re past calling me that.”
“Mm, no, I don’t think so,” Regina smirked, then turned to Graham. “Sheriff Humbert.”
“Technically deputy,” Graham corrected, but he was grinning as she gave him a once-over.
Emma clenched her jaw.
“Oh, I see you’ve finally learned how to dress yourself properly,” Regina mused, eyes flicking to his crisp uniform. He looked neat, but so what? “I’m assuming this is the doctor’s influence? Libbie, is it?”
Graham laughed. “She has some standards, yeah.”
Emma stared. Regina was teasing Graham. She was smiling at her parents. She was acting like a normal, functioning person.
Except, she wasn’t looking at her.
Emma’s heart pushed against her ribs as Regina moved past her desk without so much as a glance. She didn’t even greet, and honestly, it was like Emma wasn’t even there.
Her breath hitched. She bit down hard on her lip. It’s fine. It’s totally fine. She’s just being professional. She doesn’t hate you. Probably.
For a second, just a fraction of a second, Regina hesitated. Emma saw it. That tiny moment of pause, like something in her was screaming to acknowledge Emma, but then she kept walking.
Emma’s hands curled into fists in her lap, the edges of her stupid sandwich pressing into her palm. The room felt different now, heavier like all the air had been sucked out of it.
Graham sent her a pointed look, but the sheriff shook her head sharply. If she spoke now, she’d say something stupid. Or worse, something honest.
So instead, she sat there, forcing herself to breathe while the love of her life ignored her like she was nothing. And that hurt more than anything.
“Jesus Christ,” she muttered under her breath once Regina had left, tossing the bread onto her desk and pressing the heels of her palms into her eyes.
From the holding cell, a gruff voice chimed in. “You two ever gonna stop this and just make out already?”
Emma groaned, lifting her head to glare at Leroy, who was sitting behind the bars for the second time this week, arms crossed, watching her like this was better than a soap opera.
“Seriously, it’s exhausting,” he continued. “You’re both miserable, everyone knows you’re still in love, and, for the record, this whole brooding thing? Not your colour, Swan.”
Green eyes zeroed in on him. “You do realise you’re in jail right now, right?”
Leroy shrugged. “And yet, somehow, my life’s still less of a mess than yours.”
Emma didn’t even think. She just chucked the remainder of her gross sandwich at his head.
Maybe he was right, and maybe that’s also why she hadn’t been mentally prepared for what came next.
The Charmings’ loft was alive that night. It was Emma’s birthday, and the town had turned out in full force because, of course, they had. Balloons, cake, an obnoxiously large Happy Birthday, Emma! banner pinned up near the kitchen. It was all very nice. Very thoughtful.
And yet, somehow, none of it distracted her from the fact that her wife didn’t want to be her wife anymore. Emma was trying. Hell, she was trying.
She smiled. She laughed at the right moments. She let Robin and Neal, the two three-year-old menaces, climb all over her like a human jungle gym. She even let them cover her leather jacket in puffy rainbow stickers because it made them giggle.
“Ok, but that’s definitely cheating,” Emma pointed an accusing finger at her son, who had managed to hide inside the supply closet like some kind of hide-and-seek ninja.
Henry, all nine years of smugness, grinned. “You never said no closet hiding.”
“I-” Emma turned to Robin, who was completely engrossed in eating her own fingers, and Neal, who was happily clapping at absolutely nothing. “Ok, guys, am I crazy, or is this a scam?”
Robin and Neal, being literal toddlers, did not answer. Emma sighed, flopping onto the floor dramatically. “I give up. You win. The nine-year-old wins at hide-and-seek against toddlers.”
Henry fist-pumped. Robin cheered simply because she liked cheering, while Neal used his sister's stomach as a trampoline for his face.
“Pathetic,” came Zelena’s voice from over the counter.
Emma tilted her head up just in time to see her sister-in-law smirking down at her, arms crossed. “What?” The blonde asked, still spread out like a crime scene victim.
Zelena lifted a perfectly manicured finger and pointed at Emma’s shoulder. Emma followed her gaze. Oh, right.
There, stuck proudly to her leather jacket, were at least a dozen more brightly coloured stickers. A sparkly pink unicorn, a lopsided rainbow, and what she was pretty sure was supposed to be a cat but looked more like a confused potato.
Zelena smirked. “Very intimidating, Sheriff.”
Emma snorted. “You jealous?”
“Please. If I wanted to look like a walking arts and crafts project, I’d let Robin loose on my coat.”
“You did let Robin loose on your coat,” She pointed out, gesturing to the tiny, glittery star sticker stuck to Zelena’s lapel.
The redhead huffed, picking at it uselessly. “It’s enchanted. I can’t get it off.” Emma grinned, actually grinned.
Through the rest of the evening, Henry bounced around like he’d won the lottery, helping his mom unwrap a few gifts. She had everything a woman could ask for on this joyous day, except for, well… Regina.
Not the Regina Emma was used to, anyway. There was no real smile. No mind-blowing kiss. Just a stiff peck on the lips earlier and a short speech to go with it. Regina’s gaze had stayed just a second too long like she was printing this moment in the back of her head. Like she was wondering if it would be the last time.
Someone clinked a glass nearby. Laughter rang through the air. Everything looked normal and felt normal, but Emma’s skin was tingling, stomach twisting.
“I think it’s someone’s bedtime,” she murmured, scooping up Neal before her hands could start shaking, once her sister-in-law walked off with Robin.
Neal, being the most easily swayed human on the planet, yawned almost instantly and nuzzled into her shoulder. “No sleep,” he mumbled.
Emma smiled despite herself. “Yeah? Pretty sure that’s what every sleepy person says.”
Neal lifted his hand and patted Emma’s face with all the coordination of a drunk hamster. “Love you, Memma.”
Emma stopped. Then, she pressed a fierce kiss to his forehead, the kind that said I needed that more than you know. “Love you too, buddy.”
A noise nearby. Emma looked up instinctively, heart jumping when she caught Regina’s gaze across the room. She was mid-conversation with Zelena, Ruby, and Belle but her brown eyes had drifted. Almost as if she’d heard what Neal had said (perhaps out of guilt because she hadn’t said those words to Emma in months).
Emma’s heart clenched. But then Regina blinked and shifted her focus back to whatever Zelena was saying as she swayed the toddler on her hip, and the moment was gone.
Eventually, the blonde handed her brother off to David, her dad shooting her a look that she absolutely ignored, and made her way over to Regina’s group. Ruby clocked her immediately, eyebrows raising in that I’ve been waiting for this train wreck to happen way.
“Birthday girl,” the wolf greeted, nudging her playfully. “Enjoying yourself?”
“Oh, yeah,” Emma said, reaching for a glass of champagne off the table. “Tonight’s been amazing”
Regina’s hand twitched around her own glass. Emma took a sip, let the bubbles sit on her tongue, then turned fully to Regina, the way she always did. The way she couldn’t not do. “You having a good time?”
Her wife met her eyes. She paused, then smiled. It was polite. Careful. Forced.
Emma’s chest ached, and then she saw it. Her hand was bare and had no trace, whatsoever, of the expensive diamond ring she’d slipped on the evening of their wedding.
Her breath left her in one, sharp exhale. The room spun, and suddenly, she couldn’t hear Ruby’s voice, couldn’t hear anything but the roaring in her own ears.
Regina wasn’t wearing her ring. She hadn’t noticed before because she hadn’t thought to look for it, but now it was all she could see.
Her stomach flipped violently. Heat flushed up her neck. No. No, she must have missed it, she must have-
No ring.
No ring.
No. Ring.
“Excuse me,” Emma said quickly, barely managing to keep her voice at bay before turning on her heel and beelining for the bathroom.
It was then that it hit her. Regina was waiting. She was waiting for Emma to do something. Waiting for her to say the words. To ask. To make this break real.
Emma just... couldn’t. Not today. Not on her birthday. So she ran because that was easier than sitting there and facing whatever the hell this was between them.
She closed the door behind her with a click, and leaned against the sink, her reflection staring back at her like some stranger. Her eyes were glassy, and she was so close to breaking. So close to just collapsing under the weight of everything, the missing ring, the silence, the uncertainty of what they even were now.
The door creaked open, and she knew it was Ruby, even without hearing the footsteps. Because of course, Ruby would be the one to walk in. Of course, it couldn’t be Regina, the one person who could make everything better (ironic, really).
“You ok in here, or do I need to send in the whole rescue squad?” Ruby’s voice was her usual blend of teasing, but there was a hesitation in it, something softer than Emma was used to.
Emma didn’t turn around. Her hand gripped the edge of the sink like it might keep her from falling. Please, just let it be Regina. Please, let her walk in and just-
But Ruby stepped inside anyway, and the blonde could hear her exhale, the kind of exhale that only came when you noticed someone was on the verge of falling apart. Emma's chest tightened at the sound. She didn’t know if she could handle it. She didn’t know if she wanted to.
“Emma?” Ruby tried again. “You good?”
Good? She wanted to laugh. What the hell was ‘good’ anymore? She didn’t answer. Didn’t have the energy to.
Ruby strolled in further, arms crossing as she leaned against the counter. “Ok, look, if this is some kind of mid-life crisis-”
A humourless laugh burst out of Emma. It wasn’t really laughter at all. It was more of a choked-off sound, like she’d been holding her breath for too long. She shouldn’t have laughed. It wasn’t even funny.
“Oh. Oh no. You’re actually, you’re actually, oh, hell, you’re crying.” Emma let out a shaky breath, running a hand over her face, willing herself to pull it together. She didn’t want Ruby to see this, but Ruby was there anyway, standing in the mess she couldn’t hide, with a smirk that had been knocked out of her.
Before anyone could press on, the door swung open again, and Killian leaned against the frame, clearly looking for her. Great. “Ah, Swan. Hiding in the loo on your birthday? That’s a new one.” He smirked but clocked the tension in the room instantly. His posture shifted. “Everything alright?”
Emma pinched her eyes closed, turned, and blurted it out before she could stop herself. “She’s not wearing her ring.”
Silence followed. Ruby blinked. Killian's smirk vanished. Usually, the two had a comeback for everything, except this time around.
Killian cleared his throat and stepped into the rather tiny bathroom as he closed the door behind him. Boy, if Sidney found them now, like this, it would practically make headlines.
“Regina?”
Emma nodded stiffly. Ruby, still clearly trying to find a way to fix this, offered, “Orrrr… maybe she forgot to put it on? Maybe it’s sitting on the nightstand, or-”
“She doesn’t forget things like that, Ruby.” Emma’s voice cracked. “She always wears it. Always. Even when we fought. Even when we were on a break, she-” She broke off, shaking her head, her throat tight. “Not today. Not on my birthday.”
Ruby’s teasing dropped completely, her eyes scanning Emma’s face like she was finally seeing how close to the edge she was.
Killian exhaled, rubbing his jaw. “That’s… not ideal.”
Emma scoffed. “Wow, thanks, Captain Insight.”
“I’m just saying,” he said, more gently, “this doesn’t mean it’s over, Swan. Maybe she’s waiting for you to say something first.”
Emma swallowed hard. “Or maybe she’s done waiting.”
Mic drop.
Ruby reached out, squeezing Emma’s arm. “Hey. Look, I know you’re freaking out, but you’re not gonna find answers in a bathroom.”
“I don’t even know how to ask without making it worse, though, Rubes.”
“Well, if you don’t ask, you’ll just keep losing your mind.” Ruby squeezed her arm again. “So maybe, just maybe, you should talk to her instead of us.”
And believe it or not, across the loft, where the party was still going on, where people were still smiling, laughing, unaware of the earthquake happening just a few feet away, Regina stood with her arms crossed, and she wanted to talk to Emma too.
Though, what could she possibly say? Regina curled her fingers against her palm. Against the bare skin where her ring should have been. Maybe… maybe this really was the beginning of the end.