If Ruth Nolan had learned to watch where she was going, Regina Mills would never have been in this mess, knee-deep in her closet, looking for her favorite pair of Calvin Klein boots.

"EMMA," she hollered over her shoulder, "WHERE ARE MY BOOTS?"

"On my feet," came the reply from downstairs.

Regina swore under her breath. She was determined to finish packing before bed for the trip to Storybrooke, and it was just like Emma to screw up her plans. Just like both of her cousins, in fact. Mary Margaret was marrying David Nolan, forcing Regina to come home for the week's worth of festivities, and Emma was wearing the boots that she'd planned to wear to the welcome-home barbecue. Regina's admittedly limited patience was gone, and she once again cursed the fact that Ruth Nolan had tripped over a curb and shattered her kneecap, forcing her son to return to Storybrooke to care for her and to cross paths with Mary Margaret after seven years. Seven blissfully quiet years where she hadn't heard Mary Margaret mooning over her high school love, and then he had returned, and all her peace and quiet had pretty much gone right into the crapper.

Henry popped his head into her room, holding out her boots in his small hand. "You wanted these?"

She took the boots gratefully. "Thank you, sweetheart. Are you all packed? Do you need our help?"

He shook his head, his dark brown hair falling into his green eyes. "Nope, all set. But Mom is still watching a marathon of Orange is the New Black downstairs, and she won't let me into the living room until she's done." His eyes drifted to her nightstand, where her iPad and Candy Crush awaited.

Regina gestured to the iPad. "One hour, and then bed. And don't you dare beat my level or I'll kill you. I'll take care of Emma."

Taking care of Emma was second nature to Regina, ever since her aunt and uncle had died when the twins were six years old and Emma and Mary Margaret had come to live in the Mills household. Mary Margaret had always been a dreamer and a romantic, but she had been the responsible one of the girls. She was the one who always finished her homework, always put her dishes in the dishwasher, and always tried to keep out of Cora's way. Emma, though…Emma was a hot mess from day one. Even at the tender age of thirteen, Regina had spent more time trying to keep Emma out of trouble than trying to get herself into trouble.

Not that that was a hardship. Cora Blanchard Mills expected nothing less than perfection from her only child, and Regina was never one to disappoint. She'd done the right and proper thing always, right up until the time she'd wound up pregnant her junior year of college.

Regina shook her head. Best not think about that. Best not think about anything from those days – just get through the wedding and get back to Arlington, where her life was calm and quiet and completely her own.

Well, her own, and Emma's, and Henry's, but that was fine with her. It was an odd little family they made, her cousin-slash-sister and the son she'd been pregnant with when she'd showed up, devastated and alone on Regina's doorstep ten years ago, but it was a family that suited her just fine. She had a successful career, men when she wanted them, and a closet full of clothes that she'd chosen without a single thought of what her mother would say. She dug through the dry cleaning carefully hung in her closet, choosing the dresses that made her feel like a knockout. At 34, feeling like a knockout was not as easy as it had been at 25, but Regina still had a flat stomach and muscle tone that made her cousins envious, and she was going to play it up for all she was worth.

Because she was going to see Daniel again. And she'd be damned if she didn't give him something to think about.

An hour later, Regina's suitcase was placed by the front door next to Henry's Avengers duffel bag. Emma, of course, was still engrossed in the adventures of Piper, Red and Crazy Eyes, the only change being that her feet were in Star Wars socks rather than Regina's boots.

"Seriously, Emma?" Regina snapped. "Have you packed at all?"

"Relax," Emma replied, not bothering to pause the tv. "I have everything laid out. I'll be ready to go at 9am sharp, boss."

Regina kicked Emma's feet off of the coffee table and plopped herself on the couch. "I really don't want to do this," she muttered.

"No shit," Emma replied. "But if I have to wear that ugly pink dress, so do you."

The bridesmaids' dresses were actually quite beautiful, due in large part to Regina's influence. Emma hated to wear anything other than jeans and sweaters, and Ruby's taste was more appropriate for a Vegas showgirl than a small-town Virginia waitress. Knowing this, Regina had insisted on final veto power when Mary Margaret had asked her to be in the wedding. Fortunately, Emma was happy to take whatever Regina told her she would wear as long as she didn't have to try it on first, and a little heavy-handed flattery was enough to convince Ruby that the single men in Storybrooke (all three of them) would flock to her in this dress. So, not for the first time and definitely not for the last, Regina had gotten her way.

There was something to be said for being the big sister. Cousin. Whatever.

"I put that purple dress with the zipper back and the ribbon on your bed. Thought you might like to wear it for the rehearsal dinner." Emma grunted her thanks, unwilling to tear her eyes from the tv, where a bunch of women were chasing around after…a chicken?

"Why is there a chicken in the prison?"

Emma sighed and paused the tv. "You would know that if you had come down and watched this with me like I asked. Now you're just ruining it for me."

"Sorry." Regina looked down at her hands, realizing that she probably should have gotten a manicure. And maybe lost a few pounds, and gotten some botox, and found someone to give her a prescription for Xanax. Anything to give her an edge over the inevitable face-to-face with Daniel. "I just wanted to be ready for tomorrow."

"Is he going to be there tomorrow?" Emma asked.

"I don't know," Regina answered. "I didn't ask, and Mary Margaret didn't say."

She could feel Emma studying her face, taking in her slumped shoulders and seeing the way she picked at her cuticles. Of all her family members, Emma was the only one who had ever been able to see through the veneer of perfection. She had told Mary Margaret that it was fine to invite Daniel to the wedding, that Daniel was David's cousin, so why shouldn't he be there? Mary Margaret had taken it at face value, and it was only the promise of four new tires for her Bug that had convinced Emma to put down the phone the night she found out and had threatened to call her twin and read her the riot act for daring to put Regina in that position.

The irony that she paid out $400 to stop Emma from protecting her delicate feelings was not lost on Regina. But she could afford it ten times over, and she was grateful for the support.

Emma turned off the tv. "You're not going to sleep if you think I'm down here wasting my time, are you?" Regina laughed and shook her head. "Of course you're not. I'm going to go up and pack, and you're going to go to bed, and tomorrow we're going to face the music together." She pulled Regina off the couch and sent her to the stairs with a gentle push. Regina was halfway up the stairs before Emma called up to her. "I did pack my flask already. Just in case you need it."

She was going to see Daniel and Zelena together for the first time. Of course she was going to need it.

Storybrooke, Virginia had been an idyllic place to grow up, especially if your ancestors were the ones who founded the town. The Blanchard family had been the royal family in Storybrooke since the 1800s. Regina Blanchard Mills was well aware of what that meant for her, even at the tender age of six. Her uncle was the mayor, and had been since her grandfather had passed away when she was a baby. Her father had inherited several businesses in the town, which meant that she was the heir to both the Blanchard kingdom and the money behind the throne. That was, until her uncle Leo had married Ava and had the audacity to produce two more children. Regina's mother had never gotten over the fact that her younger brother had been chosen at birth to ascend to the mayor's throne, and the addition of two more heirs apparent had only made things worse. The big house on Mifflin Street, the administrative job at City Hall, and the fawning admiration of Henry Mills wasn't enough to make things right for Cora. She had held an uneasy truce with her brother until the day that Ava went into the hospital to deliver the twins, and until the day six years later that Leo and Ava were killed in a car accident on Route 7, Regina could count on one hand the times she had spent in their presence.

Regina bore the death of her aunt and uncle stoically, being too self-involved at 13 to understand what it all had meant. Her home life had shifted almost immediately; Cora had taken over the mayor's office, and all of a sudden there were two little girls just down the hall from her bedroom. Two little girls who were her both her family and complete strangers. Cora had accepted them into her home with resignation, if not warmth, but Regina had been enchanted from the start by her two young cousins. Mary Margaret had followed her everywhere for the first year, looking for the warmth of a mother's love in Regina since she certainly knew she wouldn't get it from Cora. Regina had been powerless against Mary Margaret's doe eyes and clumsy affection, given freely and without demand for repayment. Emma, though…Emma had started a fire in the kitchen in the first week that she had lived in the Mills house, convinced that she knew how to work the toaster oven right up until the point that it had burst into flames.

Cora still didn't know about that. Regina had been on watch, but had been on the phone with Kathryn discussing a boy that she'd liked. When she'd heard the screams from the kitchen, she'd come running down and found the toaster in flames. She'd dumped a cup of water on it, and when the glass had shattered, Regina had borne the brunt of it. She still had the scar from flying glass above her lip. By the time her parents had gotten home from whatever social occasion they'd been attending, the toaster had been safely deposited in the trash, the mess had been cleaned up, and Regina had created a cover story about tripping over a pair of shoes and catching her lip on her desk. Regina had replaced the toaster oven the next day out of her own allowance, and Emma had sworn, with all the fire and sincerity of a six-year-old, that someday she would find a way to repay Regina.

As they headed along the toll road to Storybrooke, Regina thought that Emma had yet to fulfill her promise. Someday was a long time, though, and Regina had a sinking feeling that this coming week would be the time that she'd need Emma to guard her back.

Cora was waiting for them as they pulled into the driveway, piling out of Regina's well-kept Mercedes. She hugged her daughter, cast a disapproving glance at Emma, and threw her arm around Henry's shoulders.

"It's so good to have you home again," she said.

Emma rolled her eyes, knowing that the 'you' in that sentence most definitely did not extend to her. She pushed Regina out of the way and popped the trunk to the car, pulling their bags out with ease. Regina stood in the driveway at a bit of a loss. She didn't want to interrupt Cora's undivided attention on Henry, but at the same time, she wanted her mother's attention for herself. Coming home always did that to Regina, set her back to being an eight year old who wanted her mother's approval.

Sometimes she envied Mary Margaret and Emma being orphans. There was something to be said for not having parents to please, or disappoint.

As she guided Henry into the house, Cora turned and looked at Regina. "Regina, sweetheart, can you call Marco and check on the awning? He was supposed to bring it over today, but I haven't heard from him."

"Of course, Mother," Regina replied. She wanted to say more, something about how nice it was to see her maybe, or how Mother would be glad to know that she'd just closed the largest deal in the region for the year, but Cora was disappearing through the side door. It could wait.

Emma dropped Regina's suitcase by her feet, interrupting her thoughts. "Well, at least she's glad to see one of us."

Regina laughed. "Only until she finds out he got a C in math."