Chapter One

Sometimes the loss of a loved one oftentimes force us to reflect. To delve into the affairs of the heart and reassess everything we had ever sacrificed and cried over, just to be with someone. Just to commit to them. To stick around.

He was there, but he was never enough.

Killian was the kind of man who stood like a chess piece, and if he couldn't conquer the board, he would feel separated from the initial purpose. And just like that, when there was no shining jewel on the horizon, he would pack his bags and leave.

Emma sighed, fingering the stem of the fresh rose between her fair fingers. The stem had grown warmer from the constant caress. The petals were still clustered together and softened from freshness. But she was somehow losing faith.

Blonde tendrils caressed those flushed cheeks, and for some odd reason, the coolness of the air did not envelope her in a soothing cloud that would offer some kind of refreshing atmosphere. No.

Instead she stood there leaning a hip onto the concrete ledge where just inches away, the drop was more than five floors down. Below was being swept by with traffic traveling down Main Street. And because it was Tuesday night, possibly one of the busiest nights in February, Storybrooke seemed to be pulsating with the warmth of love all around.

Valentine's day.

Had she even thought about this a couple months before, then the possibility of being single would have seemed so ludicrous.

Killian had been a promising factor in her life. He had been enough. At the time when their lives met, she could have believed that he was the one. Until his ambitions led astray, and he couldn't stick around. But deciding to take his life to sea again, sailing into the unknown.

The blonde inhaled deeply, her eyes fluttering close and although the very thought pained her to conjure up, she focused on that anyway.

Her fingers wrapped around the lamp, still warm from the entity dwelling inside. Reminiscing quickly on how Jasmine had passed the artifact over, after failing to save a place she had once called home. And the very thought of even residing in a town where she began to drift out of place felt so daunting on her. So…dreadful. Almost as if the very essence of life was being rearranged, pieces missing.

Emma suddenly felt as if she didn't belong.

Just like Jasmine.

She needed a new start. And not just something random like fling with someone who claimed that they cared but left anyway. But something more. Something that was derived from certainty. Something that would lead somewhere with purpose.

In other words, Emma refused to chase the wind again, settling instead of thinking permanent instead of without clarity that whatever path chosen wouldn't lead nowhere.

This hadn't been anyone else's idea.

This was all on her.

It had to be done. Regardless of what may happen.

Gripping the handle of the lamp with one hand, she braced herself and gingerly massaged the side of it. Feeling the coolness seep into the tips of her fingers. And the feeling of knowing that great power inhabited within. Power that could at least change something.

When Aladdin appeared, of course she wasn't surprised that his presence was revealed. No. Nervousness twisted those features of a blonde woman who had become slightly desperate. And he immediately noticed the change in her demeanor.

"It's great to see you," Aladdin said, flashing a somewhat toothy grin. "All's well?"

Emma nodded stiffly, eyes downcast, and hands shoved in her pockets. "Yeah."

Of course he waited the verdict, lingering near and studying her face. But when seconds seemed to slip by, it was time to urge her on. Time to at least do what he was now assigned to.

"What will it be then?" His voice wasn't muffled by the sound of a truck racing by.

Emma levelled her eyes with him finally and swallowed hard. Could she even say it? Could she even form words from a thought that seemed even more ridiculous as the time passed by?

"I want…" she licked her lips, feeling the pressure on her lungs. "I might want something that could be impossible. But I just want to try. Even if it's a wish that might be lost."

"Nothing should be considered as a loss," Aladdin assured her with a small smile. "Once you want it, and you wish for it, there's a purpose. However, I do have to remind you that every wish comes with a price."

"Yeah, yeah," she acknowledged his words. "I know that part."

"Then…go ahead," he urged, wondering what was coming.

Asking her to continue as if it was that easy.

But she had to.

"I've never asked for much in my life," Emma began in a softer tone. She sighed, and shook her head. "In fact, I've always had to work for what I've wanted. But when it comes to love, it's just…it's never enough for me. It doesn't work out at all. They always leave because…" she had to admit it, "because maybe I'm not the right one. Maybe something's wrong with me. Maybe this all has to do with me being the saviour."

"Maybe it can be that," Aladdin returned. The wind ruffled his hair a bit. "But we are all in charge of where our lives lead. We can change things. We can act against fate."

"But does it ever work?" her voice was strained. Their eyes were on each other.

Aladdin shrugged. "You'll only know if you try."

She would seem so stupid.

Of all the things she could wish for.

Emma stalled, standing there like a wounded warrior with her head bent. Even the rose appeared more erect than her posture in comparison, as if awaiting the evening to unfold and the opportunity to present itself to someone. Someone that would finally be worth it.

"I just don't want to be alone tonight," Emma croaked, her chest already crumbling from the thought of feeling so hopeless and so lonely. "I want to just be happy. I want you to just find my soul mate or whatever you would call them. So that I can finally see who this idiot is, who I've been waiting for and playing games for. And we can finally…punch each other for spending so much time apart. And we can have…dinner or something."

"Woah," Aladdin held up his hands with a small smile. "Easy there. It's either three wishes or a long wish with details. Hand it to me just how you want it."

"Okay," Emma exhaled long, trying to settle herself. Trying to gather composure.

There was no turning back now.

"Find me my soul mate so that we can share drinks together and dinner."

"Done," he said almost immediately.

At first, it seemed to the blonde as if he was the insane one. As if he was a lunatic for even allowing her words to make any kind of reference to something logical. A logical wish. After all, the actuality of a soul mate existing was only proven in her parents. Their union. One pair that had lasted for years and years to come. And Regina. But that hadn't ended well, did it?

But to stand there and ask for a wish to be granted that included her as a party in the contract? It seemed rather farfetched. Like what were the odds of this actually panning out exactly the way she wanted it? And had she even given all of this some kind of thought?

Suppose someone appeared that she couldn't even like? What if he was ugly? What if he was totally out of shape and he smelled? Would she still want him then?

These details seemed so worrisome.

However, Aladdin clicked his fingers.

Three seconds after, nothing happened.

They were alone, with the sound of crickets chirping and the occasional rumble of vehicles passing by. The wind flapped a flag on a pole just across the street. A trashcan lid was tossed aside, clattering in an alleyway. And still nothing happened.

"Seems like your order might take a while to process," he said with a shrug, a comical expression on that boyish face.

Just as she was fumbling with the black straps on her bag, about to delve in to retrieve a pulsating mobile, a purple haze initiated right before her.

Emma stopped fussing about and stared.

The swirling grew faster, the color lighter. She knew that color. Emerald eyes rested on the spot before her as butterflies flapped around in that aching chest. And she gripped the straps of the bag tighter, awaiting the obvious arrival of her soul mate.

But when the smoky haze began to fade away, the outline of someone was evident. The haze thickened around the person's upper body but dissolved faster around that blood red trench coat. Knee high black boots. She was slowly losing the power to control her lungs. To even take a full breath.

Even as the figure before her took on more substance, and as those smirking red painted lips were highlighted, Emma couldn't hide away her gasp. In fact, she stepped back, knees growing weak. She felt her throat become so parched when dark hair around a very familiar face materialized. Dark, silky hair that always seemed to catch her attention.

Those brown eyes blinked slowly, eyelashes fluttering as their gaze connected.

Emma felt as if she would die.

Aladdin wasn't slow to conceal his astonishment in the scene unfolding gradually.

The blonde swallowed hard. "Regina?"

It couldn't be. No. This was just a ridiculous delusion that would end very fast.

The brunette's lips parted a little as a look of surprise washed over her face. She was disturbed by her new surroundings. Terribly confused and her eyes swept the area, then back to the woman standing before her.

"What…am I doing here?" the husky quality of her voice seemed to stir something up deep down inside the blonde.

"I…" she couldn't speak. She couldn't form words. Emma tried very hard to get her brain working again. "I don't know."

Regina stared at her. "Well you must have done something –"

"I didn't –"

"I was just about to sit down with a good novel in front of my fireplace and…" she splayed out her arms, those black buttons shining, "…here I am."

Emma's chest heaved. The actuality of knowing all of the details on her end seemed to suck the blonde into a hole that threatened to kill her.

"What are the two of you up to?" Regina inquired, narrowing her eyes. "I thought that you would very well be occupied tonight, Emma."

"Well she…" Aladdin seemed to wish more than anything else to progress things. Because he was so fascinated in this revelation. "She kind of made a wish…"

The brunette waited a few seconds, those intense brown eyes focused on the only man in their presence. "A wish?"

"That involves you," he spurted out.

Emma turned to glare at him, as if warning that he shouldn't continue.

"I mean, she didn't know that it would involve you, in a manner of speaking," he explained, digging a deeper hole. Aladdin shrugged. "It just happened that way."

"What on earth did you wish for?" Regina scrutinized the younger woman's face, gloved hands shoved into the pockets of her trench coat.

The wind was harsh. Not only her cheeks felt numb, but also her fingertips. "I really don't know how this happened…" Emma explained.

"Go on…" The brunette took one step closer.

Emma blinked fast. She faced a dead end.

"Look, for crying out loud, she wished to spend Valentine's night with her soul mate," Aladdin broke the useless path of the conversation. "All in all, she doesn't want to be alone tonight. So her wish was granted. And you…" he gestured at the brunette, "…materialized in front of us. So it appears as if the wish worked."

Regina was staring at Emma as if she had gone mad. And gradually, a look of complete awe washed over her face.

"Now can I go?" Aladdin pressed on. He gestured to the lamp the blonde still had hooked between her fingers. "I'd like to leave you two alone."

Within seconds, he had willed himself to slip into the nozzle of the artifact with a low whizzing sound that seemed to be muffled by the beating of the younger woman's heart. A heart that was racing fast. That was thumping loudly.

"What he said," Emma pointed out. "I made a wish."

"You…what?" Regina practically whispered.

The lack of harshness in the other woman's tone only seemed to sharpen the blow on Emma's heart and mind.

She swallowed hard again. "I don't know how in the hell this happened. Honestly."

Things weren't supposed to unfold this way. Not when she had been mentally envisioning a man. Not when the opposite gender showed up and she was presented with a very complicated situation that involved no other than Regina Mills. Someone she had slowly grown to like. But never accepting that she like liked her.

Did she like her so much that a wish swayed the entirety of the events in that way? That somewhere deep down inside of both of them, a little ball of mushiness existed that was formed from the meshing of their souls?

Of course the brunette was still baffled. "Let me get this straight. You wished to spend tonight with your…soul mate, am I correct?"

The younger woman could only nod once. She felt cornered. This was slowly becoming confrontational, and she hated those kind of situations between the two of them.

"This…" Regina inclined her head and stared ahead, "this is unbelievable." She immediately began to pace the area between them in small strides.

Nervousness showed. Something that unsettled the blonde even more because when she had hoped to be presented with a merely surprised and utterly astonished woman, the brunette seemed to be fluttery. Her nerves seemed to be jittery. Her gloved hands flexed and folded back together.

"I mean, I didn't expect…you," Emma admitted. "But you're better than a Peter Griffin, I guess."

"A who?" the brunette was confused.

"He's this guy from…" the younger woman rolled her eyes. "Ah, never mind."

"Wishes must have gone haywire because of tonight," Regina suddenly seemed to be totally convinced. She stared at the blonde. "That's it. Somehow your wish got mixed up. Your words possibly were lost in translation. All of this is completely unbelievable."

"I was thinking the same –"

"But then," the brunette interrupted, on a roll from some kind of passion that had been initiated from a fountain of feels, "had this been a complete mix up, then the genie would have known something. He seemed confident in the result. What is this?" her head snapped around and those brown eyes penetrated emerald ones. "What kind of voodoo is this?"

"Calm down," Emma held up her hands and smiled a little, becoming humored by the other woman's out of character antics.

"I want to get back to my book!" Regina pointed out. "Before my fireplace, in the comfort of my own damn home."

"Now I feel somewhat offended," the blonde frowned.

"Don't take this personally but I've always chosen the company of books over people."

"I thought you always made an exception for me?" Emma tried. But the joke didn't quite lead to the reaction she expected. Although her smile signaled that she had played with the idea, the other woman stared back, her eyes slightly widening.

"What makes you think that you're so special to me?" Regina tried.

Emma didn't hold back. "I don't know. The fact that you…seem to always want to save me. Like you've become my saviour?"

For a long time, Regina didn't respond. She latched her gaze onto the other woman and wouldn't back down. Slowly, her fingers slackened. Her stiff shoulders relaxed a little. Then the most incredulous changed occurred. It was almost as if someone had flipped on a switch somewhere in the brunette's maintenance room. Because suddenly, her features softened and she blinked slowly at the blonde.

"Dinner, you said?" Regina's voice was gentle.

It couldn't be. It was Emma's turn to stare back. "That's what…I wished for."

The brunette inhaled deeply. Suddenly, she showed a small smile that grew. "I know just the place."

What?

Emma couldn't breathe.

"Does that mean that you…" she couldn't continue.

The wind came in and swept up dark tendrils. Those brown eyes were on fire. "That I accept that we're soul mates? Have you?"

The question seemed so easy to answer. She wanted to say no. But deep down inside something else fluttered. Something…frightening. Something that pulled at her heart strings and played a tune that flickered up passion. Want. Need. All of that scared her.

"I…don't know."

"You hesitated," Regina noted, her tone seeming to take on a quality that was gentler than usual. "Why?"

"I…" Emma shrugged. She avoided eye contact. "I guess that when you get something you don't expect, you're allowed to be confused."

The brunette remained silent.

The air was so peaceful all at once. It seemed as if neither of them had noticed the change.

"How about that dinner and drinks?" Emma tried, her voice trembling a little. She tried to smile but a lopsided one was offered instead. "I think it's high time the two of us talk. Alone."

"You say it as if you were always hoping for that to happen," Regina's chest heaved.

"Maybe that's it."

"And that…soul mate thing?"

Emma bit her lips. She lowered her eyes and smiled. "Maybe deep down inside I knew that you'd show up. And no one else."

That was enough to weaken the brunette's knees.

She stood there, staring.

x

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