It was just after midnight when Regina's doorbell rang. Glancing at the clock, she sighed in annoyance and sat down the drink she had been nursing for what she realized had been several hours. She hadn't noticed the ice melting or the glass warming in her hand. She had a lot on her mind.

She rose from her arm chair, stretching her neck and back as she moved, and strode toward the door, wondering who the hell had the gall to disturb her. Not the most social on a good day, her mood had been especially foul over the last few days. It had been less than a week since the darkness had overtaken Emma Swan, and Regina had spent the better part of her nights trying to figure out a way to help her. As annoying as the woman could be, Regina did not want to see her lost to the darkness. For Henry's sake, of course.

She swung open the door, ready to give her late-night visitor a piece of her mind, and was shocked to find Emma standing on her front stoop. She was leaning against a column, arms crossed, with a disconcerting smirk on her face that made Regina question whether she wanted to slap her or kiss her. Maybe both. She didn't get to dwell on that thought long before Emma spoke.

"Good evening, Madam Mayor. Aren't you going to invite me in?"

When Regina didn't answer, Emma uncrossed her arms, pushed away from the column, and began to stalk slowly toward the door. She took in Regina's appearance- wrinkled red dress, black pumps she hadn't yet kicked off- and raised an eyebrow.

"Why, Your Majesty, you're positively disheveled. I hope you haven't been up late worrying about little ol' me?"

Regina snorted. "As if I would waste my time on such a shallow subject." She realized she had unconsciously begun to smooth the wrinkles from her dress and quickly crossed her arms. She tore her gaze from the damn red leather jacket that Emma insisted on wearing so much. Aside from a slightly sinister new gleam in her eyes and and the untamed curls flowing down her back, Emma looked much the same as always. "You look remarkably . . . normal."

"You mean for the Dark One?"

Regina flinched. She didn't like hearing Emma refer to herself that way. "I suppose that's what I mean." She let her eyes move from the familiar brown knee-high boots up shapely thighs (not that she ever paid much attention to Emma's shape, thank you very much), and noticed something that was decidedly not a normal part of the Savior's wardrobe.

At Regina's confused frown, Emma gave a throaty chuckle. "Something catch your eye, Your Majesty?"

Regina felt a flush creep up her neck, and she hated it. She hated feeling flustered. Control was the name of her game, and Emma was much too adept at pulling the rug out from under her. She shook her head. She did not like where this visit seemed to be going and moved to retreat back into the relative safety of her house.

"I don't have time for your games tonight, Miss Swan. I need to get some sleep." Attempting to close the door, she gasped when Emma wedged her body into the opening and pushed back, leaning over the shorter woman with her face now mere inches from Regina's.

"You know, being the Dark One has its advantages." Emma's eyes flicked down to Regina's mouth, and she grinned wickedly when Regina compulsively licked her lips before she could stop herself. She leaned closer, forcing Regina to back up in to the foyer, and closed the door behind her. She held Regina's dark eyes with her own, their shared gaze not wavering until the sound of the lock clicking into place made Regina flinch and look away.

"It's late, Miss Swan. I really don't have time to listen to your silly speech." Regina walked to the living room, with Emma following closely. She picked up her glass of watered-down Scotch and headed for the kitchen, trying her best to ignore the woman chuckling behind her. Avoidance had always been the safest option where Emma was concerned. It didn't seem to be working this night.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, Your Majesty, but you can't avoid me anymore. I'm immune to your dismissiveness these days. As I said, being the Dark One has its advantages. My current favorite being that I can say what I really think and not give a single fuck about what anyone thinks." She leaned against the refrigerator, crossing her arms and legs nonchalantly while she watched Regina rinse out her glass and place it in the drying rack.

Having taken a few deep breaths to steady herself, Regina turned face Emma. "I could swear you had been doing that all along, Miss Swan. You have certainly never hesitated to spout your off asinine ideations on a regular basis."

The barb did not inflict the intended damage to Emma's ego. Instead, Emma pushed off from the refrigerator and began to move around the island toward the sink where Regina was still standing. The predatory gleam in her eye had Regina retreating. She hated giving up ground to anyone, but Emma had the upper hand here. Regina needed to figure out Emma's intentions before she could regain control of the situation, and she was uncomfortably aware that she knew perfectly well what those intentions were. She was also loathe to acknowledge them.

"I've held back far too long, Your Majesty. I've been afraid. Afraid of rejection, afraid of what people would think. Not anymore. I'm free, you see." Emma smiled the smile of a hunter who knew she had her prey right where she wanted them. "I'm also free to call you on your bullshit."

Regina's jaw dropped at that. "Excuse me?! My bullshit? I have no idea what you're talking about, Miss Swan. I assure you, I have never hesitated to tell you exactly what I think of you." Her hands gripped the edge of the island, glad to have it to hold onto as cracks began to appear in the walls that had been neatly compartmentalizing her world. There were some rooms into which even she was afraid to venture.

Emma tilted her head to the side, giving Regina a reproachful look. "See, that's what I'm talking about. Your level of denial is astounding. You think I don't notice how you look at me? When you think nobody's looking, I mean. You think I don't feel your eyes on me? On my legs, on my ass, on my chest?"

Regina closed her eyes and shook her head. "No. You're wrong. You don't know what you're talking about." She gasped as a hand gripped her hair oh, so tightly, and pulled her head back. She felt Emma's lips on her ear. She hadn't realized Emma had gotten so close.

"Don't lie to me, Regina," she whispered, her warm breath causing Regina to shiver and her nipples to harden in an instant. "I know you've had naughty thoughts about me. I know you're wet right now." She pulled Regina's head to the side, exposing her neck, and ran her nose over the sensitized flesh. "I can smell it on you."

A moan forced it's way out of Regina's throat, and she was ashamed. Ashamed that she had let her precious control slip so far from her grasp, ashamed of the sudden weakness in her legs and of the hot fullness between them.

"That's right, Your Majesty," Emma sneered. "I know your dirty little secret. I've always known. And you know what else?" She waited, knowing that Regina wouldn't ask, wouldn't play along, but enjoying the chance to tease. "I was looking at you, too."