Regina was in the throes of an intense orgasm, the sex was never amazing but the imagery she conjured up to go with it was stimulating. Yet she Would moments later regret giving into Robin, he was apparently her soul mate and she did have such feelings for him, but he had made his choice, to leave with Marion. It was while he was gone that she made the choice to start up something with the sheriff.

The sheriff who, when she opened her eyes after her climax, she saw standing looking something close to broken in the doorway of her office. Regina had forgotten all about the meeting to discuss the monthly reports with Emma, had even let herself forget about the fact that they had been on a few dates in the last few weeks. She would never forget the way her stomach dropped and her heart seized at the same time.

"Emma..." Regina was breathless though now it was less from pleasure and more from shame.

The blonde shook her head, turned and fled the room, closing the door behind her and magically locking it. The point was made without the sheriff needing speak a word to the woman or the man who had rutted atop her. There would be no more sex in her office, there would be no more kissing the gorgeous blonde in the office either. Regina had made a terrible mistake and yet she wasn't so sure what to do.

She should have gone after Emma, told Robin this couldn't ever happen again but she couldn't. Robin had come back, and it had been what she had wanted for such a long while. She had been so angry at Emma for bringing Marion back but he had also chosen Marion over her. Yet Robin was her destined soul mate, she had abused Tinkerbell's kindness to find that out so long ago.

"Regina?" Robin gently brought the woman's attention back to him and gave one of those charming smiles.

"She will be ok. It's not she doesn't know what adults do." Robin points out. It was the problem to dating in secret. Regina's choice not Emma's. No one knew that Regina had just betrayed the Savior so callously.

"Of course, dear." Regina smiles but pushes the man off gently, he had came when she had.

Emma hadn't been seen the whole rest of the day and for the rest of the week the only person that saw her at all was Ruby and that was only because Emma was an atrocious cook and actually needed food. If there was a call into the sheriffs station then Emma would receive it diverted to her cell and she avoided anywhere she might run into Regina or Robin.

The Sheriff was increasingly bitter about the whole situation and after hearing from Ruby about how it seemed that the Mayor and resident do-good Thief were back together, often found holding hands and sharing brief kisses in public then Emma was border line homicidal. And then she was just depressed.

Clearly the whole dating thing had just been a plot, Regina had wanted to hurt Emma the way Emma had managed to hurt Regina. Only the difference was that Emma was foolishly invested in Regina, having harbored a serious attraction for the woman that had evolved into romantic feelings the more friendly the mayor became with her. The biggest difference being that Emma had never intentionally hurt Regina, not the way she herself was hurting now.

"Emma I got your dinner." Ruby called through the Home.

Emma had planned to try and impress Regina, she had put the down payment on a small house, three bedrooms one and a half bath. But it had a little bit of land to it and a trail that lead down to the beach. Emma had been living there the last few days having snuck in and gotten her clothes and things from the loft. It was here that she spent most of her time while she worked on getting over herself.

"In the back room Rubes!" Emma called to her friend, a small frown on her face.

Ruby came through and set a bag of food down on the small table in What Emma called the 'drinking room' which was at the moment the only room with a TV and the only room she hadn't really put much effort into furnishing. Along with bag of food Ruby set down a bracelet. Emma knew that bracelet.

"so Regina caught wind that I've been coming to give you food and demanded I tell you to stop being a child and then threw that at me. So you want to tell me what's going on yet?" Ruby settled down to help Emma build the flat pack storage shelves the blonde was working on.

"Regina and I dated very briefly. A week ago I went to her office for our monthly meeting only to find her in the middle of an orgasm with Robin buried inside her. I guess she didn't expect me to be upset that she cheated on me." Emma explains flatly, Ruby might have thought the blonde was over it except for the way Emma was staring at the bracelet on the table.

"Emma..." Ruby says gently but Emma's eyes harden.

"Fuck her. She probably just did it to get back at me for the Marion thing." Emma shrugs and goes back to the flat pack. Ruby didn't ask about it again, the blonde was hurting way more than she had first realized.

"Have you seen Emma today?" Regina asked her son when he came into the house later in the afternoon a week after she had given the bracelet to the wolf to give to Emma.

"Not today, she said she was busy today getting things set up at her new place." Henry shrugs a little, he didn't know about the dates his mothers had gone on. No one did bat the wolf.

"She has a new place?" Regina was a little baffled by this. Emma had never mentioned even looking for a house.

"Yes she said she was going to surprise you but when she heard you and Robin got back together she decided to just leave you too it. I don't know she's been really down on herself lately." Henry shrugs again because he didn't really get it and certainly didn't think anything too serious had been going on.

"Down on herself?" Regina questions and Henry nods.

"It's been weird. She doesn't try to make the comments she does, actually I think she tries not too. But sometimes Gram or Gramps will say something nice and she will mumble some really mean comment under her breath. Like... mean to herself though. Always about not being good enough and not being worth anything. About being replaced and cast aside." Henry was frowning now because it was one of the things he had the most trouble with.

"It's odd she never told you love, you and her had been close I thought." Robin had come from the kitchen and Regina nodded. She refused to let herself feel bad.

"I don't think Emma's speaking to me right now." Regina offers with a small smile.

"What? Why wouldn't she be?" Henry frowns a little more.

"Well because she is single and I am not." Regina was getting annoyed with this conversation.

"Oh! We should set her up with someone!" Henry had that gleam in his eye suddenly and Regina inwardly kicked herself.

"Who could we even set her up with Hen? Pretty much every other man in town already has someone." Robin spoke up and Regina praised the man mentally.

"Well I guess so yeah... what about a woman? Emma's from this world maybe she's into both." Henry tries again and Regina deflates.

"Yes dear but there are as many taken women as there are men." Regina reminds gently.

"What about Ruby?" Henry queries.

"Ruby isn't into Emma like that. If they were they'd have gone there ages ago. They are too good of friends." Robin makes the observation and again doesn't realise he's earned mental praise.

"It's not fair that ma should be single. I mean even I have Grace." Henry pouts for the injustice of his birth mothers love life.

"Emma will be fine. She's used to being alone." Regina attempts to brush it all off.

"Just because she's used to it doesn't mean it's ok." Henry snaps now scowling at Regina before he storms out. He was certainly her son.

Emma realized she wouldn't be able to avoid Regina for ever, yet she didn't expect to be at her house again either. But Henry had cornered her at Granny's that morning and begged her to come to dinner at the mansion tonight. She had asked who would be there and got the immediate, Just me Mum and Robin. Try as she she might to make excuses she had been unable to deny her son.

Now she was sitting making small talk about everything and nothing with Henry while trying to ignore that Regina was even there and halfheartedly responding to any of Robins questions. In fact Emma tried Damn hard to pretend she didn't exist to either of the other two adults in the room. Except then Henry started asking questions both women wished he hadn't.

"Emma how come you never go on dates?" Henry asks curiously.

"Dating isn't for me." Emma says as off handedly as she can manage.

"So if someone asked to go out with you, You'd say no?" Henry narrows his eyes.

"I would say no yes." Emma nods her head because it was an absolute truth.

"But why? You haven't dated anyone in years." Henry pouts a little cause he didn't understand why someone would chose to be alone.

"I dated someone recently Henry, and then they chose someone else. I'm getting too old to want to continue to feel this way." Emma lost her patience way too quickly and stood up.

"Thanks for dinner but I think I'll be going," Emma stood and strode out of the house. It was Regina that followed after waving Henry off.

"You can't speak to him like that." Regina bites out looking at the blonde with a hard glare. They were on the front porch.

"You should have told him there wasn't enough food for four or something. You had to know I wouldn't want to be here." Emma bites back with a scowl.

"Well I thought you'd be a little more mature about all of this. We went on three dates Emma we had never once said we were exclusive. I don't know what you expected me to do after he came back." Emma looked like a kicked puppy at this and it hurt more than Regina thought it might.

"I don't know either I guess. I was an idiot to think for once someone would finally pick me. I should have known better, I should have known better than to expect you to feel the way I did. Do. It just might have been nice if you'd been upfront with me Regina. I didn't take you for an underhanded and nasty bitch. I always thought you were upfront." Emma bites back hurt and angry.

"You have feelings for me?" Regina hadn't even heard anything after Emma's confession of feelings.

"Yeah. But it doesn't matter now does it? Go back into your soul mate and our son. And don't invite me to dinner anymore. Not until it stops hurting anyways." Emma turned and walked away leaving the shocked Regina behind.

It was obvious to Emma that Regina had no idea how the blond had felt, that she assumed they were both just lonely and giving something a try. It hurt too much to see that on that gorgeous face. Emma was the Savior, maybe she was supposed to be saving everyone else's happily ever after but never her own.

Regina was writhing under Robin a week later, she hadn't been able to forget about Emma but she could push it aside when she needed too. Yet as she neared her climax she couldn't help wondering what it would have been like with Emma. When Robin throbbed and came, buried inside her, she couldn't help wondering if Emma would have ever allowed magic in their bedroom.

Yet while she was wondering all this she was also quietly hating herself for doing so. She had made her choice, chosen the man she knew she was destined for. She needed to forget about Emma and move on with Robin, move on and be happy instead of self loathing. Yet she still pictured Emma when she came.

"You always feel so good." Robin pants a satisfied grin on his face as he rolls off of his woman.

"Likewise darling." Regina smiles and rolls to face him lifting his arm and looking at the lion tattoo.

It was the thing that first connected them. The thing that told Regina 'Hey, this is the man that could be what Daniel should have been for you.' Regina loved that tattoo but then, kind of hated it too. Emma had remarked at one point after Robin had left that the man had a Lion King 2 tattoo and Regina didn't really understand it, The night they decided, or more the night Emma asked her to go on a date, they had sat in Regina's den and watched the movie.

But now when she looked at it, she was torn between appreciating it and being amused by it. Always remembering the foolish and fun Emma Swan. The Emma Swan who was now broken and bruised of soul by Regina. The Emma Swan who Regina has taken from more than once...

"Oh my god." Regina says sitting up suddenly.

"What? What is it?" Robin looked concerned and Regina looked close to tears.

"She did it. I did it too her." Regina mumbles with tears welling fast.

"Emma did what?" Regina didn't even realise that Robin had asked so specifically.

"Constantly forgiven me. She's always seen the good in me. She forgave me for Henry, she forgave me for inadvertently giving her the worst childhood imaginable. She's always forgiven me so easily. But I've been blind. She's in love with me and I... I cheated on her and then told her not to be a child about it." Regina rambles pulling the covers up around her like a shield as though tears began to stream.

"With me?" Robin asks gently.

"Yes. She walked in and... and I didn't even go after her. I acted like such a bitch about it all. I don't even know what to do. You're my happy ending." Regina was in a state of denial, denying she was unhappy and denying she could get happiness from somewhere other than Robin.

"Regina you're not happy with me. You don't even realize you murmur her name when we have sex. I didn't realize you both had a thing when I came back or I would have stayed away." Robin says softly.

"Robin I'm so sorry. I've made such a complete fool of myself and been an extreme ass to you and Emma. Now I've ruined everything." She sobs softly and Robin doesn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her.

"Well, in the morning we best talk to Henry and Roland. Explain things to them and then get planning." Robin says gently.

"Planning?" Regina sniffles.

"You're going to have to make some pretty grand gestures to win back your Swan." Robin grins taking this all in his stride. He would figure his own things out and Regina was his soul mate but he didn't see why that had to mean they had to be in a romantic relationship.

Emma had been walking down the street when it first happened, a little raven flew past and dropped a little gold coin at her feet. Printed on the coin was the word beautiful. She wasn't exactly sure what was going on with it and was still hurting enough that she didn't exactly care. She pocketed the disk and carried on.

The second time it happened she was sitting in the diner pushing around a pancake and feeling kind of miserable. A person she had never seen before walked over placed the coin on the table and left again. This time the coin said 'worth it' and still Emma was baffled by it yet impulsively pocketed the coin paid for her half eaten breakfast and left.

Third was while Emma was at the station doing paperwork. A small gold coin seemed to roll up the steps and into the station of its own accord and bumped into the sheriffs boot before toppling over. This one said simply 'treasure' and Emma was beginning to realize it was Regina behind the coins. With a little frown she took all the coins out of her pocket and threw them on her desk with a frustrated sigh. She watched in grudging wonder as the coins merged into one larger one.

"Throw me a bone, it will be worth it. Treasure me and I will treasure you." Emma tilted her head as she read it out loud.

Emma wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean but when she felt something touch her leg in the otherwise empty police station she about near jumped out of her own skin. Looking down she saw a puppy, a freaking puppy of all things, not like a stray mutt that just wandered in but a clean, nice smelling polished little puppy with a leather collar and... a swan shaped gold dog tag on it.

Along with the dogs tag was a rolled up note in the collar and Emma leaned down petting the puppies head before taking the note and unrolling it. It was clearly written in Reginas hand writing and Emma was tempted to send it all back where it all came from.

'Swan,

This handsome boys name is Beau, I hope you like him, he's an Alaskan malamute. I have made an awful mistake with you but this is not an apology. I find the entire concept of apologizing inferior in this case because I wronged you so badly. Beau is not the last step in my road to making it up to you though.

Yours, Regina'

Emma looked from the letter to the puppy and then back again before smiling at the dog.

"Well i Don't know what this means but you sure are cute."

"I really just... I don't know how you made this work." Ruby was rubbing the back of her neck at the park by the duck pond where there was several large white swans swimming around.

"It was quite easy dear, though I had to buy the crowns separate and magically shrink them to fit the swans." Regina grinned from beside the wolf.

"You do realize how cheesy this is?" Ruby looked from Regina to the two men beside her.

"I thought it was a grand idea." Robin explains to Ruby.

"Besides, Ma hasn't taken her eyes off Mum for the last ten minutes." Henry smirked and gestured subtly across the pond where Emma was standing with a fidgety Beau at her side.

"What's next?" Ruby asks and Regina just grinds brighter.

"Yet another grand gesture. I actually need David's help to pull it off." Regina explains looking at Ruby before looking over at Emma. A small smile shared, one shy the other sweet, and Emma turned and left the pond before the crowd drew the connection.

"Pull what off?" David asked stepping up behind him with his wife in tow.

"Swans... with crowns?" Snow looked confused.

"They're all female." Henry supplies.

"Queen Swans?" David quirks an eyebrow.

"SwanQueen." Ruby, Robin and Henry all correct in unison.

"Im trying to convince your daughter she needs to give me another shot." Regina explains.

"I want to stage a mounted battle in the middle of Storybrooke where I plan to win and confess my love for her." The woman added when it seemed the Charming's were still in shock.

"Oh my god... that is the most romantic thing." Ruby gushes and Regina grins again.

"Grand gestures." Robin nods his approval.

"I can't believe you just did that." Emma was half laughing half crying.

"Truly? You can't? I love you Emma, I needed to show you that I realized I made a mistake." Regina confessed climbing down off the large dark bay gelding she had rode in on.

David trotted over on the grey mare he had rode in on and taken the reins holding it while Snow climbed onto the gelding and the pair made their way back to the stables. Emma had her arms wrapped around the puppy she had picked up when she had realized it was Regina in all her knights armor fighting with David. There was still a crowd.

"But Robin?" Emma sniffles.

"Was tired of hearing your name instead of mine in the bedroom." Robin pops up Besides them.

"But Regina and I have never..." Emma was blushing now.

"I have a vivid imagination." Regina admitted with a bright blush.

"Besides that, we are soul mates that doesn't mean we have to be in an intimate relationship. A home cooked dinner once a week will suffice to maintain this friendship," Robin was grinning and Emma couldn't help agreeing. She had missed Reginas cooking.

"Emma? I mean it you know. I do love you." Regina says softly but sincerely as she takes the squirming bundle of fur from his human and sets him on the ground.

"I love you too. That's why it hurt so much." Emma whispered and Regina surged forward and kissed the woman passionately. A cheer went through the crowd and offhandedly Regina wondered why she had been so afraid to be open about Emma the first time they dated.

"I'll spend the rest of my days making it up to you." Regina promised and Emma kissed her again.

"You didn't tell me he's been sleeping in the bed." Regina was laying naked beside Emma who was equally as naked and both coated in a fine sheen of sweat.

"I live alone 80% of the time and like having something to cuddle." Emma admitted with a grin as Regina brushed her thumb over a bare straining nipple.

"You could move in with me." Regina wasn't joking even though it had only been a couple months.

"Or, You could move in with me. There's room for Henry, my house is more humble, and you bought me a huge dog who needs a huge yard which you are lacking and I am not." Emma explains rolling over and pressing kisses against Regina's chest.

"Do you actually want me to move in?" Regina asks smiling, it didn't matter to her where she lived anymore so long as she had three things. Emma, Henry and a good kitchen. Emma's place had a nice modern kitchen.

"Regina Mills... will you move in with me?" Emma asks sincerely as she rested her chin on the mayors chest looking up at her sweetly.

"I'd love too. Selling the mansion is going to give me a ton of spare money." Regina grins brightly.

"please refrain from spending anymore of it on me. Spend it on our son or like... buy Robin that stupid recurve bow he's been hinting at ever since Ruby showed him Amazon." Emma pleads gently. Regina had bought Emma anything the sheriff may have expressed even the slightest interest in and the blonde thought it was getting a bit ridiculous.

"You don't like me spending money on you?" Regina pouts softly.

"Not constantly babe. Christmas and birthdays? Be my guest. But only on special occasions." Emma smiles and kisses the woman's chest again.

"But I like to celebrate you." Regina huffs though she had a good nature smile on her face.

"Well... let me show you how I like to celebrate you." Emma smirks and before Regina can query that the gorgeous blond disappears under the sheets.

It had been more than worth it to give into what she felt for the blonde. Emma was a compassionate enough soul to let help Regina forgive herself for something that hurt but the blonde didn't really hold against her. Robin had been a great friend to both Regina and Emma and the three got along really well, even more so since Robin and Ruby started seeing each other.

Henry had been more than happy that his moms were together, it made for quite the harmonious living space either at Emma's or Regina's Home. In all the town had been incredibly accepting even joking about how things worked out since Regina had at one point been hell bent on killing her girlfriends mother.

Grand gestures had been made and well received and Regina hadn't known happiness like she was feeling now since she was a young woman galloping free along side her first love. A man she had come to Thank dearly for things he had managed to give her, things that helped bring her to Emma.