Regina entered the silent sheriff station, eyes flickering around looking for Emma. She called her by the last name, as usual, squinting through the semi-darkness.

Emma's head emerged from her office in the corner, where there has once been a glass wall. "Hey, Regina."

"I was hoping we could talk," said the brunet.

"Help me out with this mess, and I am all yours. What's up?"

Regina noticed the sheriff's casual tone, and asked herself why her hands clenched so tight, and her facial muscles were so rigid. Just apologize and get the hell out of there as soon as possible, she thought, trying to calm herself down. "Did something happen to the lights?" she asked instead, gesturing to the ceiling.

"Oh, that? Look, I don't know what the hell happened in here between you and my parents, but you destroyed everything in the room. All the bulbs except for the ones in the cell broke… There was glass everywhere when I got here."

"I do believe some of it comes from the curse, Swan, and that wall," she said, pointing to the office behind the blonde. "That was your mother, by the way."

"At least it's not the Snow Queen's 'glass-ashes' falling down on us in the street earlier. Did you see that dwarf sticking his tongue out? Ew."

Regina could not contain a side smile, and for a second she relaxed. She took the opportunity to say what she needed to say before she changed her mind. "I wanted to apologize for attacking you earlier. It was—,"

"The curse," Emma interrupted her, with a smile. "I know."

"What about you? You were not under the curse… were you?" Her eyes drifted down to her own hands, and she toyed with the ring on her finger. "I've been wondering if what you said..."

"Don't. None of it was true," said Emma, at once, and Regina let escape a breath she didn't even know she was holding. "I am so sorry for all of that. The things I said… I just needed you to hate me in order to defeat Ingrid."

"You needed my… hate? To defeat the Snow Queen? How does that even make sense?"

"It doesn't," replied Emma, waving her hand in dismissal. "Magical talk never does. So… Can you forgive me? For… the things I said, and… for throwing you against the wall afterwards?"

"I tried to kill you, Emma. I am in no position to judge."

"I just want to make sure you are alright— that we are alright."

"As good as always."

Emma paused for a second to think. Considering their history, maybe 'as good as always' wasn't so good after all, though she decided to take that as such nonetheless. She bent down again to grab a stack of papers scattered around the floor. "Are you going to help me with this mess or not?"

The brunet glanced around uneasily, and ran her fingers through her hair. Get out of there immediately after you apologize, she reminded herself, but instead, she sat on the floor by the sheriff's side and began to gather the one week worth paperwork on the floor. She decided not to comment on the fact that most of it was not filled out, after all, she was not the mayor anymore and thus not responsible for Emma's incompetence in the office. She was Snow White's responsibility now.

"So how did you defeat the Snow Queen?" she asked, trying to make up conversation.

"There was a letter from Ingrid's sister – Elsa's mom – and before we knew, Ingrid was committing suicide. She sacrificed herself to free the town from the curse."

"Noble," remarked Regina, drawing a nod from Emma. "And unexpected. What was her deal, anyway? Where did she really know you from?"

"Foster system," answered Emma, with a sad smile. "I spent a few months in her house with a bunch of other kids. We had a great relationship, and she wanted to adopt me, but then she began with some magic-talk and crazy shit like that, so I ran away."

"How long have you stayed with her?"

"Six months."

"Six months?!" exclaimed Regina. "How did you not remember this?"

"I've been through so many memory curses at this point that my brain probably is atrophying," she joked, and they both forgot about the task in hands for a second and chuckled.

"Isn't that scary, though? That magic can so easily take away who you are, just like that. All your experiences, memories, your whole life can just disappear in a blink of an eye. We spend so much time and effort creating these memories, and it is so fragile. One wave of hand, and it's gone."

"Forgetting isn't always a bad thing," said Regina.

"Would you want to forget something bad that happened to you, even if what happened made you be who you are?"

"I have things that I would rather forget, yes. Don't you?"

"I used to think so."

"What changed?"

"I did. When I saw my mom die in the past – well, she did not die, obviously, but I thought she had – I realized how much I needed her. And dad, and Henry, and all my friends. If I was to forget about the pain, I would have to forget about them too, because it was only by dealing with my feelings and the pain I had, that I connected with them, you know?"

Regina tilted her head slightly to one side. "I never took you for the type of person who would enjoy looking into their own feelings and motivations in such depth, Swan."

"There are a lot of things about me you don't know yet."

"I bet there are."

"And I bet there are a lot of things about you that I don't know about."

"You would be correct."

"Then what do you say we make this friendship official with our first girls night out? Then you can tell me everything about that swordfight you had with my mom or how come you never used those Evil Queen dresses in town before, among other things," suggested Emma. "I want to get to know you better."

"Are you sure about this, Emma? Evil Queen," she pointed to herself, "remember? My life hasn't exactly been a garden of roses."

"Neither has mine."

They held eye contact, not daring to blink. Regina felt her pulse race, and wondered at which point of the conversation she had become so strangely aware of her own body.

"I can handle it," reassured the blond. "I can handle you. Trust me."

Back up on her feet, Regina smoothed her dress, and said, "In that case, savior…" She waved her hand, and a cloud of purple smoke took the entire mess away. "…What about we go to my place, and have a glass of the best red wine you ever tasted?"

Emma snorted and entered her game, "Got anything stronger, Madame Ex-Mayor?"

Regina offered her a bemused smiled, and waved her hand. Another cloud of purple smoke engulfed them, and they disappeared.

It took her long enough, but Regina had finally allowed herself to give the blonde a chance. She had been avoiding her since the Marian thing – wanting to be furious at her, to push her away and erase all the unavoidable feelings she had whenever they shared the same room, but the Sheriff had managed to be face to face with the Evil Queen twice now, and she still wanted to stick around. Only a limited number of people have broken that record before, and Emma Swan deserved a little credit for making that list.

However, Regina failed to understand why Emma insisted so much in a befriending her. She had been able to keep people around her for countless reasons, but friendship was never one of them. She did not even know what it actually was, let alone be able to fulfill whichever expectations Emma had for her. She was scared of getting attached, having yet another weakness. She was scared of failing Emma and losing her; but she was also intrigued –why and how could Emma see her so clearly, yet remain by her side?

Maybe she was an idiot, after all.

And Regina noted, panic rising to surface, she had become quite fond of her 'stupidity'. More than she would like to admit.

Being around Emma had a curious effect on her. She felt light, comfortable like she never have before – yet if Emma happened to get one step closer to her than usual or if their hands happened to brush against one another, all the calmness was gone and Regina felt her pulse race, tongue-tangle, knees weak.

"Here you go, Ms Swan."

Emma accepted the glass of red wine from her, and asked, "When are you going to stop calling me Ms Swan? I am getting tired of it."

"Why do I have to call you by the name? Why is it so vital for you that I do?"

"Because… We are supposed to be friends! I have a hard time telling whether we are connecting or not when Ms Swan me. We share a child, Regina; it's about time you call me by my first name."

Regina gave an impatient huff as she entered the living room and took a seat in the pearl couch. "If you want to be 'friends' with me, you will have to be patient. I am not good at this."

"Tell me about it," joked Emma, seating on the opposite end, respectful of Regina's space. She did not want to scare her off and have to run behind her for who knows how long. "Just kidding."

The queen rolled her eyes at the comment, but could not hide the bemused side grin that escaped her.

Half an hour and a few glasses of wine later, the conversation was flowing much better. Emma had never seen Regina laughing before, and she found herself mesmerized by the sight. How could it be that they have known each other for so long, and Emma had not yet realized just how beautiful the brunet was?

Well… She had obviously noticed how beautiful Regina was, in the sense of being absolutely gorgeous, but she had never seen how extraordinarily beautiful she was in her soul, in her eyes; when she lets show a part of her she often keeps hidden behind her mask of indifference and a politician smile.

Emma had seen many emotions from her – anguish, concern, fear, wrath, and disdain… but joy? Never. Not without third parties being screwed over somehow, and even then – it had been a smirk of satisfaction; not this clear, harmonious laughter so pleasant on her ears. "You should laugh more," she said, before she could contain herself.

"We should do this again," replied Regina, her hands tightening against her own arms in an embrace. "I haven't laughed like this for a long, long time. Is this what you do with friends? Have some wine and laugh?"

"Pretty much, yeah," she said, and noted a longing gaze in dark brown eyes that she had seen before but not necessarily paid attention to, and her chest tightened. "You have never had friends before? Like… ever?"

The brunet pressed her lips into a thin line, and shook her head, gazing back at Emma.

"That must have been lonely," said the blond.

"It was."

Emma could effortlessly relate to Regina's struggle. Friends had not always come easy for her, either, especially when she did not easily trusted, nor inspire much trust. She wanted friends, yet she was afraid they would leave. And because she always pushed them away, they left. It as a cycle that she had a hard time to break, and to be honest, still had. She was the problem kid – the one who would steal, swear, get into fights with classmates. Some other kids were hesitant to befriend her, and even when they did, their friendship only lasted long enough for her to get to meet their parents – then she would be banned from their lives forever.

"You have a friend now," she said, and launched forward to take Regina's hand against hers." I am not going anywhere."

"As someone who has actively and more than once tried to get rid of you, I can verify the verisimilitude of that statement."

Emma rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "We will do more nights like this one, and you will love it."

Regina hummed, and wiggled her eyebrows. "I guess I could get used to it."

"Why do I have a feeling that is just the alcohol talking…?"

"It probably is, Sheriff. Though I would assume you to be acquainted with the voice of alcohol by now, considering how committed your boyfriend is with his flask of rum."

"Hook is not my boyfriend."

"Oh? That's not the impression you gave earlier in my vault. You seemed to be quite fond of your 'relationship' with him when you rubbed it in my face."

Emma narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "See that? That is why I used Hook back in the vault! Look how mad you get when he is brought up into any conversation. Why do you keep talking about Hook in that way?"

"What way?!"

"That way! Like you are jealous or something."

Regina offered her a cold laugh, resembling her politician-self more than ever. "Don't be ridiculous. Why would I be jealous of your relationship with Hook? You two are the worst example of a relationship I've ever seen, and I am even taking into consideration Elsa's incestuous adoration for that bubbly redhead."

"Then why is it that my technique worked, huh? You seemed pretty in control of yourself and your anger until I mentioned Hook. Even now, you are still doing it."

"Doing what, Swan?"

"That! That sneer, and rolling your eyes. You always do it when I talk about Hook. It's a jealous kind of look. I don't know, maybe you want me just for you."

Another cold laugh followed. "I think it actually goes the other way around. You annoy me in so many different levels I can't even –,"

"I also make you laugh like never before," the blonde interrupted her, grinning. "It seems I bring out a roller coaster of emotions on you, Madame Ex-Mayor."

"You are an idiot."

Emma chuckled, and shook her head. "Maybe I am… but I am having a great time with this. Us. Being friends."

"You enjoy pissing me off?"

"I think I do. You look cute when you are mad."

"Swan," she warned, shooting Emma one of her very best death stares.

"Getting cuter," said Emma, beaming.

Regina snorted, and emptied the contents of her glass, but this time she could not wait before she turned her back before beaming. She squeezed Emma's hands instead, eyes fixed on the emerald pools. "Thank you."

"For?"

"For having my back."

"My pleasure."

Silence was enough, then. They stayed together appreciating the warmth coming from the fireplace, until Emma announced it was late, and she had to leave. When standing on the door to say goodbye, both women felt the urge to lunch themselves forward in a much-needed embrace, but shared an awkward handshake instead, an electrical wave coursing through them as their hands connected, increasing their anticipation for the moment that they would finally be able to wrap arms around each other, and feel at home.

For now, however, they were just barely friends, and a handshake was enough.

For now.

Author's note: Hi guys! This is my first time writing fanfic... I wrote this mostly because I missed having an scene where Emma/Regina talked about the curse after that wonderful 4x10 episode we got, so I decided to do one. I hope you like it, and I would love some feedback on it as well as constructive criticism! :) As you can see, this is meant to be a swan-queen-beginning-a-friendship one-shot, but if anyone wants me to continue this, I would make it a SQ fic as a continuation from 4x10 and on. I am not sure yet if I should do it or not, so I am putting this on your hands. Let me know what you think and thanks for reading!