CHAPTER 1.

Regina sighed as she waved a hand, turning the television off. So many years in this world and she still didn't get TV, it just didn't entertain her. She'd much rather read a book or write. In fact, sometimes she just liked to sit and think. Sometimes she hated it. Lately, it had been the latter.

For twenty-eight years, she had tried to cover up her loneliness. For a while it had worked, it was easy to sit back and laugh as the rest of the town wandered around, oblivious to their lives. The mayor's job gave her the authority she liked, and exercising that power over Storybrooke, making the residents as miserable but as peaceful as she wanted.

This night, she was tired though. The loneliness that had been threatening to overcome her for so long, was beginning to brim out. After all, she didn't have any friends, just pawns in a game, really. She had killed the only man that she loved; her father. She never regretted it exactly, or never let herself regret it anyway, but there was an ache that she sometimes acknowledged, for another person to share this life with.

So this night, she decided to go on a walk. It was late, there wouldn't be many townsfolk about and so she put on her coat and wrapped a scarf tightly around her neck and headed out the front door.

The mayor looked up at the clock which had never ticked a second since it's creation in this town. She smiled to herself and continued on, digging her hands deep in her pockets as the a few snowflakes began to fall.

She liked the cold, it felt good to her skin and deep in her bones. She liked rugging up with her favourite scarf. She was almost to the town line, the road leading out of Storybrooke, and closed her eyes, breathing in the smell of the first snow of winter and didn't it feel fresh and clean in her lungs.

Regina's eyes snapped open as she heard a skidding along the misty road and a small, yellow car screeched to a stop inches from ramming into a tree Just inside the town line. The dark haired woman hesitated for only a moment before running to the driver's door and pulling it open. A blonde woman, perhaps a couple of years younger than her, sat at the wheel, looking disoriented but otherwise okay.

"Are you okay?" Regina asked, putting a hand on the other woman's shoulder.

The blonde blinked slowly and turned to the older woman, "Uh-huh," she said a little dopily.

"You're not hurt? What's your name?" Regina asked, trying to assess the situation.

"I don't think so," the woman unclipped her seatbelt, "Emma, my name's Emma. Where am I?"

"Storybrooke," Regina replied on automatic.

Emma's eyebrows creased, "Storybrooke," she curled her tongue around the unfamiliar word.

Regina nodded, "Storybrooke, Maine. Do you remember where you were going?" she asked, starting to grow concerned for her own reasons now. Who was this woman who could enter Storybrooke, her town? Nobody should be able to find this town, how had this woman skidded straight into it, with no intention whatsoever?

"Nowhere in particular, I-I can't really remember," Emma shrugged, sitting forward in her seat, trying to get a grasp on the situation she was in. "What's your name?" she realised she hadn't asked who this woman was.

"Regina, Regina Mills. I'm the mayor of Storybrooke," she answered; calming down; this woman seemed harmless. She couldn't remember a thing.

"The mayor?" Emma asked incredulously, "A mayor and a superhero, who knew?" she smiled up at the brunette. It took Regina a moment to recognise the look on the younger woman's face; gratitude, appreciation, something she hadn't seen in a very long time. And it was then that she had an idea.

She smiled, "I'm hardly a superhero, dear. Come, why don't I take you to get some rest?"

Emma nodded, climbing out of the car clumsily as Regina supported her back to the mayor's house.

Regina handed a glass of water to the younger woman who took it gratefully and sipped it slowly as she rested her head on the cushion of the mayor's couch. Regina smiled as she lifted a blanket over Emma before she swept her blonde hair off of her face. The younger woman wasn't hurt, but she was tired and confused and the mayor saw an opportunity.

Perhaps it was cruel but she needed someone to love, and who was she to deny a chance so well presented. The rest of the night was spent with Regina giving Emma new memories, that yes, maybe Regina was a superhero (and not the villain) who had saved her and that she was more than grateful, she loved the older woman and would never think of leaving her. It was a long night, but through both talking therapy helped along with a little magic, by the morning, Regina wasn't alone anymore and maybe, she thought, that ache in her chest would begin to fade, even if her heart had only grown darker by deceiving her newfound companion.

"Regina? Regina?" Emma called out and within seconds the brunette was beside the couch, kneeling down beside her.

"What is it, dear?" Regina asked.

"Sorry, I just panicked when you weren't here," the younger woman mumbled, averting her eyes.

Regina's eyes lit up; finally, somebody who needed her, "That's okay, I'm here now. Are you feeling okay?"

Emma nodded, "I guess. A bit of a headache," she sat up, throwing the blanket from her body, "My head feels kind of fuzzy. What happened last night?"

Regina bit her bottom lip to stop herself from smiling, "You just got in a small accident on your way from the grocery store, you're fine though. Well," she frowned, "except for that headache. Let me take care of that for you," she flicked her wrist casually, with a wry smile upon her crimson lips.

Emma blinked and raised a hand to her head, "Thanks," she said, "I forgot you could do that."

The older woman smiled; it seemed her magic had worked, just like it always did. Emma would be under the impression she had lived with Regina in Storybrooke for as long as she could remember and she would never know any differently. She would be the only one in the town to know of Regina's magic so she must be sure that the younger woman knew not to tell anybody else. Not that Regina planned on letting her socialise much with members of this town.

"Mm, I can do anything dear," she smiled as she cupped Emma's cheek in her hand, "But you do remember, you can't mention the," she hesitated, "…the magic to anybody else."

Emma's eyes were transfixed on the mayor; she was beautiful, she really was, her very presence seemed to stir something in Emma's bones, in her chest and she nodded, "Of course, I won't tell a soul," she smiled and then her smile grew when the older woman beamed at her. Emma didn't know why but she just had this urge inside of her to please Regina; she felt she would do anything to appease the older woman, and happily so.

"Good girl," Regina replied, brushing her thumb over the younger woman's cheek, biting the inside of her cheek; this was better than she could have imagined.

Nobody had looked at her the way the young blonde was right now, for many, many years. She seemed to have forgotten what it was like to be needed, to be loved. And she found herself quite enjoying the attention from the younger woman. This was what she needed, she thought, to have someone to dwindle away the lonely days away in this miserable, cursed town. And this, she thought, was only the beginning.

She almost forgot to worry about just how this woman had found her way into Storybrooke. It had happened before though, with a young boy and his father. She would visit the town line tomorrow and strengthen the shield just in case.

Emma's eyes were fluttering closed again; long periods of exposure to magic tended to do that some people, "Mm," she put her head back down on the cushion.

Regina stood up and lifted the younger woman's head as she sat on the couch, replacing Emma's head in her lap as she began to stroke her hair, "Shh, go back to sleep."

"But I want to spend time with you," Emma protested, still fighting her own heavy eyes.

Regina chortled, "We've got all the time in the world, dear. Don't you worry your pretty little head about time, we have forever," she whispered.