Mary Margaret tries to lure Emma out of the house with the promise of a chat by a café, and instead Emma meets Neal with a confused expression on his face asking after her mother. This is the third time in the last eight weeks alone, and Emma is sick of it.

She sees Neal every Saturday morning for family breakfast instead of family dinner now, the exchange of Henry far easier when it's done during a time they can all congregate without making specific plans, and then handed back on Monday afternoon when Neal fetches Henry from pre-school instead of Emma. They work, however bitter Neal may be, but it's a step toward Emma's freedom that she will not give up for anything.

Being blindsided like this is frustrating, and Neal abruptly shoves his chair back to exit the café without a word in Emma's direction. Since she's here, she might as well have herself a nice lunch and then head back home to browse through whatever is on Netflix on her one day off.

It's halfway through a club sandwich that Emma pauses, the familiar click of heels enough for her to look up. There, bathed in light, stands ADA Mills wearing too much black, and bags under her eyes that make her look older than she really is. The urge to call out to her gets caught at the back of Emma's throat, the memory of their last conversation still stinging in places that had Emma weep into the odd hours of the morning for weeks about everything and nothing.

It wasn't a mistake, still rings in her ears, and Emma's hand shakes too much when she puts down her sandwich, appetite ruined and fear curling in her belly about something she supposedly fights for. It's been almost three months since she's seen Regina, one of her minions coming into the station to enquire about files instead of her, and Emma doesn't get disturbed as often anymore, Graham harping on about their new dispatch officer, Ruby, instead.

It's alarming how quickly Regina is forgotten, and Emma aches for her presence when she sits alone in the dark, that drunken night of the kiss having her close her eyes to trace her fingers over her lips. I make excuses to come into the station, Regina had said, I fell for someone with a soulmate. It had all made sense when she sat down to think about it, and it's probably that knowledge that has Emma hyperventilate into her club sandwich and wish the woman away.

Looking up a few minutes later, Emma's stomach drops when Regina isn't anywhere in sight, and not for the first time, she asks herself what she truly wants.

:::

Neal suggests it one Saturday morning, and Emma regrets ever agreeing to something so humiliating. "Hi, I'm Neal," Neal introduces himself, and a chorus of people greet him back. "I uh, lost my soulmate," he says, and Emma winces from beside him, wondering if torturing Emma is his method of healing.

He had handed her a pamphlet, S.S.G printed in big obnoxious letters with a time for Wednesday evening when Mary Margaret had offered to babysit Henry. She thinks this is time that they're taking to revive their relationship, and Emma allows her mother to believe whatever she wants if it means this will help Neal finally let go of her— only she's sitting in a circle of people who look at him in empathy, and Emma wants the earth to swallow her up whole.

"I'm just here to heal, you know? And I hope I'll be able to do that in the weeks to come." Everyone claps at the end of Neal's introduction, and the group leader turns to Emma who looks back her in alarm.

"Would you like to introduce yourself?" She asks, and Emma's mouth opens and closes before she shakes her head no. She can't do this, she can't voice the fact that she dumped her soulmate out loud, not when it shakes the very foundations of everything she's been pretending to be okay about in the last few months. This Soulmate Support Group was a bad idea, and she makes to leave just as the group leader starts to speak.

"Hi everyone," she says, and Emma sits back down with her eyes downcast, the baseball cap she wears pulled down over her eyes. "My name is Tamara, and I decided to leave my soulmate." Emma's head snaps up at this, her eyes wide and a lump forming in the back of her throat at the representation of her situation. She's eager to know more, leaning forward in her seat as she bites down on her bottom lip.

"His name was Greg, and we had met when we were both in a really bad patch in our lives. Everyday, just as the sun was going up, we would both go down to the docks, no matter the weather, and we would both smoke the same cigarette, the same way, for same amount of time. Until one day, when it was pouring cats and dogs and I couldn't convince myself to go home, I realised that this man who stood silently next to me everyday was my soulmate." Tamara smiles at the memory, and Emma watches her as carefully as Neal does, probably the only two people who haven't heard this story before. "Greg was everything I could ask for—until he wasn't, and I had to choose between my soulmate and my own safety. This is a choice I live with every day, but I've finally reached a place where I'm happy with it."

Emma doesn't realise there's tears streaming down her cheeks until Neal hands her his handkerchief, and she swipes beneath her eyes with a delicacy that tries to hide what everyone has already seen. Tamara looks at her with a smile in her eyes and Emma slinks down lower in her seat, keeping to herself as the group ends and Neal mingles around coffee and muffins. They've driven together for the first week, and Emma hasn't got the heart to ask Neal whether they can leave when he strikes up conversation with Tamara, a smile on his face for the first time in months.

…

"Thank you," Neal tells on her the drive back to her parents.

Emma sits silently in the passenger seat, chewing on her bottom lip as she mulls over Tamara's short hand version of her soulmate story. Emma had always thought people without soulmates to belong to a group of outcasts, people who were rejected by society for not sticking with someone who is made for them— but she's met an entire circle of people who seem to live normal lives despite being separated from their soulmates. There's an entire world outside of her parent's retold soulmate story and her mother's barely concealed disgust over Emma's sexuality.

"No," she tells Neal when they've parked outside her parent's house, her yellow VW bright in the driveway, "thank you."

:::

"A Soulmate Support Group? What the hell is that?"

Emma sighs at Graham's narrow view of soulmates, but supposes she can't blame him when he hasn't met his own yet. "It's for people who have lost their soulmates."

"So like a widows group, then?" Graham chews on his sandwich, brushing crumbs off from his shirt that falls down onto the newly cleaned squad car. Emma sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, fingers running over her hair to smooth down flyaway curls that escape her bun in the spring humidity.

"Not exactly," she tells him, taking the sandwich from his hands to bite into it herself, her eyes on the lookout for any trouble as they drive past the toll bridge that's been notorious for vandalism. "It's like a group where people tell their stories about losing their soulmate, or leaving them behind, and… it's just nice to know you're not alone when you don't follow the picture perfect version of soulmates that everyone sells, you know?"

Graham snatches the last bite of the sandwich from her hands, and she whines when he chews slowly just to aggravate her. It's almost questionable as to how Emma can bond so easily with Graham who behaves like a child than any other man in her life besides her father. Still, when Graham looks at her with that smug expression and a wiggle of his eyebrows, he doesn't expect her to be a girlfriend or a mother, the most he wants from her is good dating advice that definitely doesn't come from experience, and for them to share their lives as professional partners. It's easy to be with Graham, and Emma feels like more of herself at work than anywhere else recently.

"So, is there a support group for people who haven't found their soulmate yet?" Graham sips on his coffee to hide the blush on his cheeks, but Emma can tell he's desperate to find someone made specifically for him. There's nothing Emma can say to pull him off the path of such expectations, and she finds that she wants him to hold onto that magic a little longer.

"Maybe," she answers with, "but you know that if you don't like them, you can always come to my support group." When Graham elbows her, Emma can only laugh, the sound trailing through the streets they patrol until they ride back to the station, nothing of significance to report.

…

"Whoa, what's with the face?" It's Monday and Emma has just left Henry at pre-school, Henry chatting away to her at a mile a minute about all the things he's going to do today. Emma realises that this specific amount of time she's spending with him that allows for time apart is doing wonders for their relationship. Already she's been to the zoo, baked with Henry, bought a new row of standard spices at his bequest, gotten a menu down for three weekends with him in advance, and been told everything about every chef in the world that own motorbikes. To say that Emma is in a good mood would be an understatement, but Graham certainly isn't.

"Every single day since that damned conversation about your widows group—"

"Soulmate Support Group," Emma corrects, raising her hands in surrender when she realises that this isn't the time.

"I found my soulmate." Emma waits for more, but nothing comes, and Graham looks at her with a stricken expression. "Can I come to your widows group?"

Emma wants to laugh, but she holds it down for the sake of her partner, not when she has only half the story in her pocket and the other half burning a curiously sized hole in her brain. "Want to talk about it?" She asks subtly, but Graham shakes his head and returns to his paperwork silently, leaving Emma looking at his uniform clad back with too many questions.

…

"I got a dog," Graham says, sitting in the passenger seat this time as Emma drives them out on a call.

"That's nice," she says distractedly, turning them down a street that looks familiar.

"He's Alsatian, a rescue dog, a nice thick coat of fur. He plays fetch, he can shake hands, and he's only eaten one shoe of mine so far—so you know, a good boy." Emma tries to stop her shoulders from shaking with laughter, because it's hard not to imagine Graham talking about his child if this is the way he speaks about his dog.

"Are you going to show me pictures now?" There are already a few police cruisers parked, and Emma's heart jumps a little in her chest when she sees the museum that Regina and she had argued in front of.

"I met my soulmate Emma," Graham says seriously, and Emma switches the car off as she parks behind another squad car, urgency in the way she looks at Graham to finish his story quickly. "I was taking Wolfie out for walk, and then… every day, Emma. I would take Wolfie out for a walk in the same park, at the same pace, with this Dalmatian walking next to me, and I felt compelled, you know? Even if I woke up the next morning thinking I didn't want to take Wolfie out at that specific time, I ended up walking him anyway."

"Firstly—Wolfie? And secondly, that's the way soulmates work. There isn't exactly a choice in the meeting, but you have a choice in what comes next, okay?" Emma pats Graham's thigh as she opens her car door, but Graham grabs her arm just as she's about to leave. There isn't any doubt that she wants to hear the full story, but they have a job to do and lingering in the squad car is going to raise a lot of questions.

"My soulmate is a redheaded man ten years my senior with a husband." Emma can't contain her giggles at that, not with I'm-so-charming-all-the-girls-love-me Graham having someone of the same gender as his soulmate. She laughs into her palm as she tries to contain herself at Graham's glare, but his face hardens as he exits the car, and Emma has no choice but to school her expression into one of professionalism and take the statement of the museum guard as Graham scopes the area.

:::

"Officer Humbert," Regina greets, and Emma's eyes snap up to ADA Mills as she stands at a desk she hasn't bothered with since her appointment to this station. Regina ignores Emma, and Emma sits in her seat with her heart pounding away and her throat closing up.

The banter with Regina before everything had blown up in her face was something to complain about, but now after Emma has realised her feelings for someone who isn't her soulmate, she finds herself craving it even if her palms sweat in fear.

"ADA Mills," Graham greets glumly, still giving Emma the silent treatment from the day before, his sulky face only turning once in Emma's direction as he remains seated even at the sight of his once crush.

"You have that case file on the Goldberg Museum?" Well, for this one, Regina can't send in her minons, not with thousands worth of state property stolen, and the perpetrators still out there somewhere. This case is above Emma's pay grade too, and she's glad to see that it's being handled by people better equipped than them.

"Emma has it," Graham pouts, turning back to his computer screen and ignoring Regina entirely. This whole soulmate business has been hard on him, and Emma's knee bounces nervously as she tries to think up ways in which to cheer him up. The long suffering sigh from ADA Mills however, gives Emma enough pause to become nervous again, the reluctant click of Regina's heels having Emma tense where she sits.

"Do you have the Goldberg Museum file, Officer Nolan?" And it's so civil and professional that Emma's jaw clenches under the tension between them. It stretches like a rubber band when she sifts through the paperwork on her desk, producing the file to hold out to Regina who looks worse than when Emma spotted her at the café. She looks like a striking resemblance to Graham, the empty look in her eyes matching the hollowness of her cheeks. When Regina takes the file from her now, there isn't any unnecessary touch that Emma is accustomed to, in fact there isn't much of anything before ADA Mills walks away without any sway in her hips, or attitude in her posture that now slouches.

…

"I'm sorry," Emma tells Graham, feeling just as sad he does after her encounter with a woman she's still afraid to choose.

"Why are you sorry?" Graham asks, "it's not like you laughed at my situation or anything." And he's still a child despite it all, and the extra bearclaw she got for him is pushed onto his lap as he drives, the sight of the pastry enough for him to look a little excited until he turns pouty again, chewing on the pastry with a little less malice in Emma's direction.

"Soulmates are bullshit," Emma says, and the words make her ache when it brings her back to that night in the bar, Regina's fingers sliding through her hair just before that kiss. "Look, soulmates— just pull over for this, will you?" Because this is important, and that one week of group therapy might've taught Emma a thing or two. Graham dutifully pulls over into a parallel parking spot by a supermarket, and Emma takes a few moments to appreciate the ease to which he parks.

"Soulmates are bullshit," Graham says, nudging her in the ribs to continue.

"Right—that's what they are. You're going to go through life with people telling you the magic of soulmates and how wonderful they are, but it's not always like that." Emma turns in her seat to face Graham, a soft smile on her face as she attempts to make sense of whatever Graham is feeling. "Sometimes soulmates are platonic, sometimes soulmates are only going to be in your life for a few months, or years before you have to let them go. Not all soulmates are forever, and sometimes that's a good thing, it means that you're growing, and that you can make your own choices based on how you want to live your life."

"Is that why you left Neal?" This is supposed to help Graham, but he looks at her as if she's said everything to herself, concern on his face as he finally understands how she could have rejected her soulmate after being with him for so long.

Emma smiles a close lipped smile at him, looking down where she gathers her strength to tell him the entire truth. They're partners, and keeping such information from him will probably hurt them both in the long run. "Graham," she begins, her smile turning into a grimace, "I left Neal because I… I'm gay. And I've known since I was eighteen, but then I met my soulmate and, well." Emma waits for the backlash, because as much as she knows Graham, she doesn't know his disposition on such matters when it comes down to the people closest to him.

"It's alright. We were both fed the same soulmate crap, I get it."

Emma snaps her head up to look at him, surprise evident on her features. "You're not…?"

"Mad that you also like women?" Emma nods her head at the question. "Why would I be upset if I now have a partner who can actually provide me with advice on how to get a girlfriend?" Emma shoves him playfully, making him laugh as he shoves her back. "So?" he asks, "have you been with any women?"

Emma makes a noise of disgust and gestures to the road for Graham to continue with patrol. The question is harmless, but Regina's name pings at the back of her head, and she's reminded of the crush Graham had on her. "I only ever kissed a woman, and it was a drunken kiss the day before I left Neal—and no, I didn't leave him because of that kiss, I just… I decided long before that, but I needed a drink after I spoke to my mother, and things just sort of escalated."

"Do I need to ask or are you going to give me every glorious detail?" When Emma raises her eyebrows at Graham he pouts at her and flutters his eyelashes. "Oh come on, you know what a bad week I've had."

"I don't want to make it worse."

"What could possibly make my week worse?"

"It was Regina," Emma says bluntly, "I kissed Regina."

:::

Neal takes her to the Soulmate Support Group again that Wednesday, ten minutes spent inside Emma's new apartment that she had rented out after that first weekend with Henry. It was easier for Emma to move than Neal, and he's grateful that she allowed him to keep Henry in a house that he's familiar with for the week, instead of being the bitch from hell he thought she might turn into. In fact, Emma is pretty much the same, just a little happier, and a little freer.

"Ready to go?" Emma asks him, and Neal gestures toward the door in a dramatic bow, Emma's laughter not as painful as it used to be when it brought back memories of their life together. Now he's focused on moving past all of this, and he thinks that he could be friends with his ex. If not for their own sakes, then for Henry's at least.

…

"Are you going to talk in group today or are you going to glue your ass to the chair like last time?" Emma glares at him but says nothing on the matter, simply staring at the road ahead until they arrive. There's something bothering her, and Neal remains unsure as to whether he has any right to ask. He's so lost in his thoughts, he doesn't notice Emma exit the car or the fact the he hasn't switched it off yet.

"You coming in or what?" Emma asks, tapping on the window. Neal jumps in his seat, switching off the car and making his way hastily inside, rubbing his arms nervously until he spots Tamara setting up a table for coffee and tea in the far corner. He thinks he might like her, and glancing at Emma who mulls around by the entrance, he makes his way across to the other woman at his ex's nod.

"I can't believe I'm at a widows group."

"Graham!" Emma exclaims, drawing the attention to them when she turns to greet her partner. After her admission, Graham had grown quiet, and Emma had been worried that their relationship would not survive it, but he had taken the pamphlet of the S.G.G she slid onto his desk after all.

"I missed you," he says, and that's ridiculous because they've only been fighting for two days, speaking between intervals that had seemed a little less tense than usual. When he pulls her in for a bear hug, Emma laughs into his shoulder, keeping him close as he makes no attempt to let go. Neal's hey in the background is ignored, and Graham childishly turns them so that they don't have to look at him whilst they still hug.

"I can still see you, you know!" Neal yells, and Emma laughs even harder until Graham releases her.

"You're not mad?" she asks him, and he shakes his head.

"I'm not mad," he confirms, shoving a bearclaw in her hand as apology for being upset in the first place.

:::

Regina has been busy. There isn't any way to describe how she throws herself into her work other than that. She doesn't have the time to visit her parents because she's busy, she doesn't have the time to date because she's busy, and most importantly, Regina doesn't have the time to think about the heartbreak left behind by Emma Swan because .busy.

Seeing the woman she might very well love yesterday had been… it had been a shock, and whilst she had pretended to be cool and collected about the entire exchange, Regina had afforded herself the time from her busy schedule to cry in her car until she couldn't deny it any longer. ADA Regina Mills, the woman with the full package, had fallen in love with Emma Swan who had a soulmate, and would never deviate from that. It was that realisation that has her drive up to this stupid S.G.G, her hands shaking as she parks her car behind a bright yellow VW that's a sin to be on the road.

Regina is late, but she takes her time to walk up to the doors, exhaustion seeping into her bones as she wonders whether this is the right group for her. Sure, she may have lost her own soulmate due to bad timing, but what about losing the person you love to their soulmate? Is there a group for that?

Leaning on the doors which open slightly, Regina breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth, she listens to the introduction of a man, trying to draw strength from the fact that there are others in that room who can help her.

"Hello," he says, and Regina frowns as she tries to place his accent. "My name is Graham, and this is my first time here."

"Hello Graham," Regina whispers along with the others, her eyes still closed as she rests against the door, too tired to move, too tired to do anything more than listen.

"I uhm, well I met my soulmate last Friday, and it—it was a strange feeling. My partner and I had been talking about this group on Thursday actually, and I was curious about it, not so much now." Everyone laughs with Graham, and Regina manages to crack a smile. "I decided that I was tired of living without ever meeting my soulmate, and I was tired of living alone. So I did the most sensible thing, and I got myself a dog. His name is Wolfie, he's a rescue dog—and you know what, I'll show you all pictures later."

This Graham is a charmer, and the group seems to love him already. Regina wishes she were as casual about losing a soulmate, about losing anyone really—but it's been months since she lost Emma to her soulmate and years before that since she lost her own. Just days afterwards and Graham is cracking jokes? Regina almost wants to ask what he's on just so she too can stop feeling so much pain.

"One day I took Wolfie out for a walk, and this red haired man was walking his Dalmatian next to me. We smiled at each other and then the path separated, Wolfie and me one way, and him and his Dalmatian the other way. No matter what I did to try and stop myself from walking Wolfie at that specific time, I couldn't. I had the need, the compulsion to get up, walk Wolfie down the path, smile at this man and then… well, I realised this man is my soulmate, and the spell was broken when I said it out loud." Graham's voice takes on a saddened tone, and Regina licks her lips to stop herself from crying out loud in empathy.

"I'm not gay," he says, "but I have a soulmate who is a man, and even if I wanted to explore the option, he's married to someone else, and I won't…" Graham takes a breath, and Regina breathes with him for a moment. "I'm sorry, this is all still new, but I'm ready to heal, to make my own choices—and I'm grateful a place like this exists for people like me." There's thunderous applause, and Regina take a deep breath to keep her tears at bay. There are people like her out there, and she's drawn enough strength from Graham's story to push away from the door.

"Would you like to introduce yourself?" Regina hears, but she doesn't care, not when she's reaching into her bag for a pack of tissues and her car keys. This is too much for her already, and all she wants to do is cry into her pillow and forget everything that's made her feel this way.

"Kind of hard to beat Graham's charm, but I'll try." And that voice has Regina stop cold. Emma? Regina presses herself to the door again, pushing it open so that she can see Emma standing there in jeans and an oversized knit sweater. She looks happy, beautiful beyond reason—and why is she at a Soulmate Support group if she's living happily with Neal and Henry?

"Hi, my name is Emma." This time, Regina doesn't whisper along with the chorus of greeting from the rest of the group, her eyes too busy taking in the way Emma blushes at the attention, of how her hands fidget and then smooth over her thighs. "I lost my soulmate out of my own choice." Regina pushes the door open a fraction more, disbelieving as to what she's hearing. "I was eighteen when I found him, we were rebellious at that age, and I had been trying to steal the same car that he was stealing. I didn't want to steal another car after that, but I had the urge to, and so the next day and the day after that, and after that… we tried to steal the same car pretty much until Neal," and Emma looks down at the man seated next to her, Regina opening the door fully to stand just out of sight, "said that were soulmates and the spell was broken. I didn't want to believe it at the time, and it took us another two years until we met again at college. By then I had come to like Neal, and my parents were happy that I had a soulmate who is, up until this day, so good to me. I had struggled with this idea of what soulmates meant with my parents version of how sacred it is, and with society's view that a soulmate is something that's meant forever, something that you couldn't reject no matter what."

Emma laughs as she wipes beneath her eyes, and the door swings shut behind Regina as she steps forward into the light, still unnoticed, but very much a part of this group now. "About four months ago, I had reached a point where I couldn't lie to myself anymore, and I guess I had always been at that edge, but this woman who I absolutely loathed, she was invited to dinner by my father one day, and she said a few things that had me think. If it wasn't for her, I don't think I would have admitted that destiny doesn't have to define who I am. I am a lesbian with a male soulmate, and I love my soulmate, but he doesn't deserve to be stung along anymore. I hope this place can help me heal, because all of you are exceptional people, and no soulmate defines you. I want that. I want to be free of it."

When everyone claps, a sob rips out from Regina's throat, drowning out her sorrow with joy for Emma. She's been chasing after a woman with a soulmate, but four months ago Emma had been free, and Regina has been cast aside as nothing more than a woman who Emma loathes that had been invited to dinner once. When the door to the room swings shut this time, everyone turns to the spot with only the ends of a woman's coat disappearing.

:::

"So… Regina, huh?"

"Regina!" Henry exclaims, excitable as always about the one visit Regina has made, Henry always on about spices and how Emma should write down everything so he doesn't forget what he's going to tell his new best friend. Emma hasn't got the heart to tell him that maybe she had ruined things with Regina forever, and fixing them is going to take some courage Emma doesn't have.

"What about her?" Emma asks Neal, trying to play dumb.

"She's the one who made you realise that you didn't want us to be together anymore?"

"Neal," Emma breathes, still guilty over everything, but Neal's easy smile is enough to know that he doesn't take offence to it anymore, not since he got Tamara's number last Wednesday and has been texting her back and forth.

"What did Regina do?" Mary Margaret asks, setting down a plate of scrambled eggs that Neal dishes into Henry's plate.

Emma swallows thickly as she waits for David to take his seat at the head of the table, Mary Margaret sitting next to him. Emma knows that her mother likes to pretend that this separation between Neal and her is intentional, that they're just taking a break from everything before resuming their relationship again, but this new piece of information might just shatter her. "Regina is, we're…"

"Mom, Dad," Neal says seriously, and Emma looks at him with gratitude. She's drowning here and he's throwing her a lifeboat, capturing her parent's attention to pull them into the seriousness of the situation. "Emma and I have officially split for four months now, and I'm thinking of moving on—slowly, but still moving. I think Emma doing the same, and living the life she wants will help the both of us, and I want Henry to see that it's okay for him to be the person he wants to be. Soulmates shouldn't be a burden, you know?"

Mary Margaret nods her head slowly, looking from between Neal and Emma as if she's trying to assess a situation that isn't there. "What about Regina?" She asks fearfully, still holding onto that thread.

Emma clears her throat and sits up straighter in her chair. She likes Regina, she wants to be with her because every time she thinks about ADA Mills, there's butterflies in her stomach and she's healed enough to get excited about the possibility of something more between them. "I like Regina," she manages to say, and her mother opens her mouth to dispute the meaning behind it, but Emma is quick to cut in. "I want to date Regina, and I'm letting you both know about it in advance."

"Regina is…?"

"Regina likes me back, yes, and maybe, soon, we could be a couple." How much of that is a lie, and how much is the truth, Emma doesn't know. What she wants to achieve is some form of acceptance, but her parents sit silently in their chairs, jaws tense but outnumbered in this regard. Well, tolerance is better than nothing, and Emma smiles at Neal in relief.

:::

"Mills, someone is here to see you."

Regina groans into her hands, the words of this case all blurring together as she tries too hard to concentrate on something that has long since stopped making sense. "Not now," she growls out, but her assistant has already left, taking her groan as an answer instead.

"ADA Mills," a familiar voice greets, and Regina snaps her head up to look at Emma who now stands in front of her desk, their roles reversed.

"Officer Nolan."

Emma's lip twitches and she shifts from foot to foot, but after a moments silence, she seems to gather herself up, staring down at Regina with a look of determination that's far more intense than the glaring looks of irritation Regina usually receives from her.

"I want to talk," Emma finally says, and Regina pushes her chair back to stand to her full height, vibrating with pure rage.

"We are talking," she spits, and Emma recoils. Regina doesn't want to hurt Emma, but she's been hurting for months now and Emma has been living the life of dreams since then.

"Look, I came here to have a civilised conversation. I know we left things on a bad note, and I truly am sorry about the things I said and the way I behaved. It wasn't… the timing wasn't right."

"And now it is?" Regina asks, stepping out from behind her desk. "Now is a good time to thank me for being the one who pushed you over the edge? To make you realise that you didn't want to be shackled to your soulmate?"

Regina's words are bitter, and Emma frowns at the familiar words that strike a cord in her memories. "That's not—"

"That is!" Regina hisses, and they're running down the same path as when they were parked in front of that museum that's now robbed of too many things. Emma can see the way Regina shakes, and had she any courage left in her system, Emma might've held the woman just to steady her.

"You think you can come in here, throw some pretty words at me so that I, what? Ease your conscience, help along your healing from the choices that you have made?" Regina pokes Emma in the chest and Emma swats at her hand uselessly. "How can you come in here and pretend to make nice when I'm the woman you loathe."

It's then that the memory comes back, and Emma gasps out at the realisation that Regina had been listening to her story at the Soulmate Support Group. "This is what happens when you take things out of context!" Emma shouts back, because she's done being rolled over by what others think of her. "You used to make me feel uneasy, I used to get this feeling in the pit of my stomach when you used to walk into the station—and I hated it, I hated you, but after we spoke…" Emma licks her lips and steps back, putting a little more distance between them so that she can think about her next words carefully.

"Having a soulmate, being with them for so long, it's impossible to jump from that relationship into something else. You deserve better than to be rebound, you deserve to be chosen not because you came into my life and made me see clearly, but because I've got the freedom to come here after months of sorting through everything, and tell you," Emma reaches for Regina, her fingers brushing against Regina's, "that I'm here, and that I see you, and… I choose you."

Regina's bottom lip trembles as she listens, her fingers intertwining with Emma's on instinct. She doesn't want to give in so easily, doesn't want Emma to win, but her heart is splitting in two and there's too much emotion flowing through her veins to say anything hurtful anymore. "You could have told me you were interested a long time ago."

"I would have been lying," Emma says honestly, moving closer to Regina.

"What about Neal, and Henry, and your parents? What about—"

"Regina," Emma interrupts, her heart in her throat, "do you not want this?"

"Of course I want this!" Regina snaps, getting angry again. "I have wanted you since you messed up that paperwork the first time we worked on a case together, and don't you dare take this away from me again!"

Emma stands there with a smile creeping up on her lips, nervousness ebbing away to make room for affection that she hasn't allowed until recently. She'd be lying if she knows what to do next, but Regina cups her cheeks and looks at her as if she has the universe in her eyes, and whatever lingering doubt that remains in Emma's system is dissolved.

"I choose you too," Regina whispers, resting her forehead against Emma's as she sags with the weight of it all. Emma brings her hands up to cradle Regina's back, holding her close until the beating of her heart slows down into a contented rhythm.

"Do we date now?" Emma asks softly, and Regina laughs against her neck until there are fingers in Emma's hair pulling her down for a kiss, one that starts off as a peck, and then becomes something else entirely.

When they pull back for air, Regina is still smiling and Emma thinks it's the most beautiful sight in the world. "Now, we do whatever we want to do," Regina whispers back, and Emma kisses Regina once more as the weight of the word soulmates lifts off her back entirely, leaving her with a choice she's more than happy to make in the favour of an infuriating woman who knows how to kiss.

A/N: This is the end folks, hope you enjoyed the ride!