"I'm just saying, you got a good one," August grinned. "She basically tracked me down. Hey, who's Sidney Glass?"

"A reporter." Emma squinted. "Why?"

"Sounded pretty frightened on the voicemail if I didn't contact Regina immediately and come to Storybrooke for a special event."

"A special event?" She asked incredulously. "It's just my birthday party."

"Pretty telling, isn't it?" He smirked when Emma ducked her head in pleased embarrassment. "What's going on with you two?"

This time Emma looked up, shrugging though not upset with it. "No idea," she began, "but, I don't know, I know that I, you know, like, like her."

"Like-like, that's serious," August teased.

Emma socked him in the arm and held him with a glare. "I like her, okay?"

"So what's stopping you?"

"What's stopping me?" Emma let out a dry laugh. "That techie, Dean Cooper, doesn't ever call his boyfriend and whenever he comes back from leave he says he visited his mom. I'm pretty sure the president himself would have my ass if they found out."

"No offence, Emma, but since when have you given a damn?"

"That's rich coming from you."

"Coming from me as your superior and your brother it should be loaded with golden goodness," August said pointedly. "And I call bullshit."

"On what?"

"On you being scared of what the job thinks," he answered simply. "So cut the on the offensive crap and tell me what's really stopping you?"

Emma let out a breathy sigh and leaned her head on her hand as she rested it against the couch. After a long moment of silence, she finally relented. "I'm going back next week," she said quietly.

"And?"

"And? And I don't want to start something with her that I can't finish," she explained, waving her hands around to prove her point. "She deserves more than a week and something better than a letter once a month."

"That's the life we signed up, Corporal," he reminded her. "Ramirez hasn't met his kid yet, and Hogan has had to postpone his wedding twice."

"I know," she said dejectedly. After a restrained sigh, she muttered quietly. "But I didn't."

August raised a questioning eyebrow for Emma to continue. She floundered for words as her hands waved wildly as if they knew what she wanted to say. "I was alone my whole life, and I never had anyone to miss or someone to miss me, and then I joined the army, and it very well might have been the greatest thing I've ever done because at least there I had you...and then everything changed."

August stayed quiet, his eyes narrowed, and Emma felt as if he was examining her, every minute body movement and every turn of phrase that she spoke. She did her best to remain as still as possible, her expression changing from conflicted to neutral in half a second, but it was no use for August's eyebrows rose to his hairline in wonderment. "You got it bad, kid."

Emma let out a groan and shook her head. "I know. It might just be hero complex," she reasoned mainly to herself.

"Who's saving who?" August asked wryly. When Emma's silence permeated the room, he continued. "Look, let me embark a little bit of wisdom on you. I know you feel guilty about my leg, Emma. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that." He held up a hand when she finally decided to speak, silencing her preempted apology. "I forgive you," he said sincerely.

Emma turned away, running a hand through her hair to gain her composure, but the guilt of what had happened to August seemed to come crashing down on her.

He leaned closer and placed his hand on her arm and squeezed until she looked at him again. "I would have lost a lot more than my leg if it wasn't for you, though, so thanks for that."

"I didn't-"

"You came back for me, Emma," he said in earnest. "So whatever you think about ruining my life, you didn't. I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you."

"You're just saying that," she insisted.

"Because I am so sensitive to your feelings," August snorted. "I'm saying it because it's true, and what I learned from it, you need to as well."

"And what's that?" Emma questioned with an edge to her voice, hating the vulnerability she found herself in, but the burden that rested on her shoulders every time she thought about August seemed to have lightened as he spoke.

"We don't have a lot of time, us especially. You know infantry men have a high burn out rate," he began. "Every choice we make can either number our days or extend it, and every choice we make can make us happy right now or we can choose to live a long and miserable life. Are you really not gonna see what whatever you have with Regina is because you think it's not the right time?"

"It's not the right time," she insisted, though her voice faltered.

"There is no right or wrong time, Swan," he cried exasperated. "Time is going to pass you whether you want it to or not. Make it the right time."

Emma let his words nestle deep inside her brain. She may be hard-headed and stubborn, but she wasn't stupid, and she could hear the truth in August's words despite her fears and reservations. Good things were always few and far between in Emma's life, and when they did happen, there was always that niggling feeling in the back of Emma's mind that it wouldn't last, and maybe this time would be just like every time where her good fortune was on a time limit, but here was an opportunity presenting itself to her in the form of killer heels and an obsession with dragons, and Emma wanted to hold onto it desperately with every fibre of her being. The odds that she'd be gifted with something even remotely close to a normal relationship were minuscule, but Emma was never normal, and Regina would never compare herself to the average person, so she needed to get her head out of her ass and do something.

"Would you at least try with her?" August asked imploringly, a quiet curiosity laced with a hint of uncertainty.

Her head snapped up at the question because of how quickly her mind had jumped to the answer no matter how difficult her tongue was having to voice it. Because really, no matter how hard Emma tried to deny the more than attraction feelings she was having toward Regina, a letter a month sounded pretty damn good if it meant that this makeshift family they had created for the past three weeks were hers to call her own. It was fast and messy and Emma had no idea when she had suddenly decided that staying in one place, in Storybrooke no less, was something she yearned for, but she wanted it so goddamn much that she debated shooting herself in the foot just to stay. But if they could make it work... "Yeah," she found herself saying breathlessly.

August grinned, but his eyes moved past Emma to look at something behind her, and Emma turned in time to see Regina looking surprised and doe-eyed, though if she was apologetic for the intrusion or if she had been standing there for god knows how long, Emma was uncertain.

"Emmaa!" Henry yelled, his quick and heavy gait thundering down the the hardwood loud enough to distract the three adults. They all turned just as Henry rounded the corner of the parlour, nearly colliding into the back of Regina's legs before forcing his mother's legs apart to push under them, an excited grin on his face and a hand behind his back. "Happy birthday!"

He stopped in front of the blonde and whipped out his favourite dinosaur, nearly as old as the boy himself but well-loved and well-worn just the same. She noticed the stitch in its arm when the car door had accidentally caught the dinosaur as it closed, and Henry, eager to save his best friend, yanked with all his might, pulling the dragon free but ripping the arm off in the process. He had cried for days afterwards until Regina returned the dragon to her son, arm stitched back to near perfection and placed in a sling. Save for the grease stain she couldn't get out, Regina had written to Emma the story, and Emma knew just how special this toy was to Henry for Regina to go to such lengths. Emma lost count how many times her heart clenched at the things the Mills had done for her in the past day alone, but with her walls shaken from August's talk, she nearly felt tears coming to her eyes as Henry presented his toy.

"I can't take your toy, kid, but I absolutely love that you want me to have it," she said gently giving him and the dinosaur a big squeeze.

"Yours," he insisted, pushing the plush into her hand. "Mommy said presents are extra special so Rex is extra special."

She gave a watery laugh and with tentative fingers took the dinosaur from his grasp, squeezing it to her chest. "It's the best gift I've ever gotten."

He gave a toothy smile, throwing a thumbs up to his mother who a-okayed him with a pleased smile of her own.

"Well," August said and pulled his pant leg down and stood, clasping Emma's shoulder in passing as he walked toward the exit. "Henry, wanna go try that lasagna with me?"

Henry tilted his head up at August, eyeing his outstretched hand. After a long moment, he took it and allowed the man to lead them out of the parlour before asking, "do you have a Morph?"

Emma waited until August and Henry had left the room to stand and shove her hand into her back pocket, the other still holding onto Rex as she grinned shyly at the brunette by the entranceway. "Hi."

"Hey," Regina said throatily before clearing her throat and motioning for Emma to come with a tilt of her head. "Mr. Booth has quite the personality. He tells me he has many stories to share about you."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Most likely lies."

"Oh, I highly doubt that," Regina teased. "You hacked into your school's database?"