The next morning...

Emma rolls her carry-on bag to the storage shed on her way out of the house. Once inside, she opens the door to a hatch hidden in the floor under her Bug and walks down the stairs, taking silent inventory of the weapons and cash stockpiled in the room.

She loads her bag with a stack of cash, three bombs, and two handguns before throwing some ammunition on top. After zipping the bag closed she picks up a large case leaned in one corner of the room. It stands at about shoulder height and has a large G-40 grenade launcher inside.

xxx

Regina wakes up to an empty bed and cold sheets. She jumps out of bed and heads downstairs, fiddling with the buttons on the oven and broiler in a random manner that when pushed in the right order enter a secret code, opening the oven and revealing a secret compartment inside housing all Regina's handguns and knives. She selects one of each before closing her secret compartment and grabbing a cup of coffee from the pot Emma left warm for her.

xxx

Granny greets her from the reception desk with a gruff, "Get rid of that gum."

Emma rolls her eyes, "You got a tissue or you want me to spit it in your hand?"

Granny lifts an unimpressed eyebrow and holds out a tissue in one hand and the trash can in another, "Something crawl up your ass and die this morning, Mrs. Smith?"

"I've already got one lady griping at me in my personal life, I don't need it in my professional life. What do you got for me?"

Granny hands her a folder, "Boarding pass, taxi receipts, hotel bill."

"Thanks."

"Don't lose those, you'll need them for your cover. Keep them in the folder."

"Morning, Emma," August says as he walks in. "How you doing?"

"Don't ask," Granny replies sarcastically.

"I'm fine. What about you?"

"Same old, same old. People need killing." He turns back to her then before they part ways, headed for their own offices. "Oh, Em. Might have a little get-together this weekend at my house. Barbecue, no ladies," he winks at Granny when he says this, "and drinks. It's gonna be awesome."

Emma nods and opens the door to her office, "Yeah, I'll talk to the missus."

"You want to use my cell phone? Maybe give her a call in case you decide to scratch your ass or take a piss later." He yells louder when Emma ignores him and closes the door behind her, "Make sure she thinks it's okay."

"You live with your father!"

"Why bring him into this? He's a first-class dude. And I don't have to check in with him when I want to do something. He cooks, he cleans. He makes me snacks. And I'm the dumb guy?"

Emma continues ignoring him and pushes the button that will close the blinds to her office, giving her total privacy from the outside world. She sits in the chair behind her desk, turns on her computer, and when it asks for her login ID she says "White Knight." The computer activates the home page for Gold's Guild, the hit firm she works for and an automated voice speaks to her.

"Hello, Emma. Quite the body count this week. We have a priority one, so your expertise is required. The target's name is Killian Jones A.K.A. Captain Hook," a mug shot and rap sheet appear on her screen. "He's a direct threat to the firm. DEA custody. They're making a ground-to-air handoff to heli, ten miles north of the Mexican border. I need you to make sure the target does not change hands."

"'Captain Hook?'"

xxx

Regina steps off the elevator to the private entrance for i-Temp Technology. She walks in the door, past a reception desk, and through another door which is not labeled. The lights are low, allowing a full body x-ray while she stands still on the floor while it moves her forward for inspection. An automated voice asks for her code name to verify her voice ID while a retinal scanner focuses on her eye.

"Evil Queen."

"Regina Smith, confirmed. Stand by for contact."

A distorted image of the Queen of Hearts comes on screen. Had she not been raised by the woman she would have a hard time making out the picture. It's designed that way for a reason. Keeps Cora's identity safe.

"Regina, dear," Cora's voice warbles on the transmission for the exact same reason. "I'm sorry I had to disturb your... stroll into the office, but we have a bit of a situation. You know the competition would love to see us burn. I need you to handle this personally."

"Of course, mother. Who's the target?"

"Killian Jones. I'm sending you the specs now. We need this quick, clean, and contained."

"Yes, mother."

The doors open and Regina walks down the stairs to the belly of the office where Kathryn greets her with a cup of coffee.

"Good morning, Regina." The brunette gives her a quick nod and accepts the folder she's holding out. "Yesterday's op resulted in one kill, one agent in protective custody."

Regina nods again, "We'll get him out tomorrow."

Lacey approaches them with a form Regina needs to sign, "Hello, ma'am. Two cases of G-40s are here."

"Order ten more." She motions for Kathryn to follow her to her office. "All right," she settles in the chair behind her desk and activates the projector on the wall in front of her. "Go, Kat."

Kathryn pushes a button on the remote in her hand, bringing up the specs. "The target's name is Killian Jones A.K.A. Captain Hook."

Regina's face wrinkles in disdain, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah. He's being moved across the border to a federal facility. The only point of vulnerability is just south of the border."

Regina studies the screen for a moment before giving her orders.

"I want GPS and SAC of the canyon and the weather report for the last three days."

"He'll rendezvous with a helicopter at a deserted airstrip. We've only got one chance to strike."

The next day...

Regina perched on the edge of the abandoned building she was using for cover, watching the caravan holding Killian Jones through her binoculars.

"Are we green?" Kathryn asked over the ear piece.

Regina checked her laptop which showed a 3D scan of the land around her, a green box indicating where she had placed explosives. "Perimeter is armed. We are up and running." All she had to do now was sit back and wait. She kicked her feet out in front of her, enjoying the way the sun was warming her skin.

Her eyes were closed so she didn't see the dust kicking up from the offroad vehicle quickly approaching, but she did hear the horrendous music it was blasting. Her eyes shot open and she sat up in her seat, removing her sunglasses to get a good look at a Polaris RZR ATV speeding through the desert, driven recklessly by a maniac listening to 'Nothin' But A Good Time' by Poison.

"Oh, come on," Regina groaned before picking up her binoculars and scanning the distance for the DEA convoy. She locked on them before turning back to the ATV, projecting the image back to her office. "Are you getting this?"

"Affirmitive. Is it a threat?" On another pass around her green perimeter the ATV made a sharp turn and kicked one of the stakes holding Regina's explosive charges out of the ground, triggering a countdown. "The countdown has been initiated, Evil Queen. Convoy is not in the zone yet."

"There's an idiot in the field who's going to blow the charges," Regina snapped.

She could hear the music while she typed on her laptop, stopping the countdown.

Don't need nothin' but a good time

How can I resist

Ain't lookin for nothin' but a good time

And it don't get better than this

Emma jumped out of the ATV as the song ended, doing air guitar in time with the end of the song.

Regina picked up her binoculars in time to see the end of 'the show' and groaned, "Ugh. Civilians." Turning to check the distance from the convoy to her cover, she missed Emma reaching in the back seat to retrieve her G-40. When Regina once again turned her attention back to the 'civilian,' her binoculars picked up a weapon scan and highlighted the grenade launcher in red on her digital display. "I'm picking up a weapon signature!" She yelled to Kathryn over the ear piece. "Shit. Not a civilian." She picked up a long range rifle from behind her and pointed it at the chest of her new target. "Asshole."

She fired a shot and Emma dropped to the ground, groaning. The DEA caravan crossed into the green and alerts started sounding on Regina's laptop, stealing her attention away before she could see Emma sit up and clutch at her chest.

"Countdown is initiated," Kathryn informed Regina while Emma stood up, flicking the bullet off the bullet proof vest she was luckily wearing under her tee-shirt.

Emma turned around and ripped the goggles off her face which released the bun she had twisted her long blonde hair into. She shook her head, letting her hair fly in loose curls and bent down, grabbing the G-40 from where she had dropped it when the shot had knocked her flat on her back. She dropped to one knee and spun around, the sight against her eye to locate her target and the base of the launcher draped across her shoulder for stability.

"Let's see if we can't get a tune out of this old trombone," she muttered to herself before locking onto her target, the abandoned building on the cliff up ahead where the shot had come from. She fired off a grenade, thinking as it blasted out in a loud explosion that she probably should have remembered to put in ear plugs before she retaliated. "You should so not be allowed to buy these things."

Regina's laptop beeped with a self destruct signal after Kathryn warned her to abort mission. The charges she had planted went off, then the computer died. The DEA convoy wasn't in the proper position to be impacted by the explosives. Emma's G-40 explosion followed by Regina's perimeter explosion scared them off and they immediately turned around, speeding away.

Emma turned at the sound of a motorcycle engine and saw a lone figure driving away in the opposite direction on a dirtbike. She kicked the side of the ATV and yelled in frustration before hiking up the side of the cliff, looking through the rubble for any valuable information her shooter might have left behind. She picked up a charred laptop. The screen was warped from the heat of the explosion, it was missing keys from the keyboard, the disc drive was stuck open, but it was the only trace of another person being out there that she could find.

The next morning...

Emma and August sat together at the counter of a diner.

"I think I got ID'd on that hit," she mumbled around her breakfast. "You ever been ID'd on a hit?"

"Not that I'm aware of, no."

"Right," Emma's head bobbed in agreement as her mind raced. "I'm in trouble."

"You get a good look at him?"

She shrugged, "Little thing. Buck ten, buck fifteen tops."

"Maybe he's Filipino."

Emma took a deep breath and shoved another bite in her mouth before finally admitting, "I'm not even sure it was a him."

August laughed and choked on his sip of coffee. "Are you saying you got your ass kicked by some girl?"

"Hey," Emma glared at him and pointed her fork in his face. "I'm a girl too."

"Yeah, but not just some girl. You're the White Knight," he smirked and wiggled his eyebrows mockingly.

"I don't think this is just some girl either, August. She was a real pro."

"Are you sure you're not just saying that because she made you look like a little bitch?"

"Fuck you."

August laughed again and held out his hands, content to lay off her for now. "Okay, okay. On the bright side, it shouldn't be that difficult to determine who it was. I mean, how many other chicks are hitters out there?" The waittress wandered over then, shamelessly flirting when she asked if they wanted any dessert and August shamelessly flirted back. "What do you have, honey?"

"Ice cream. Delicious."

"What flavors?" August asked for the both of them since Emma was just staring blankly ahead and shoveling the remainder of her food in her mouth.

"Chocolate and vanilla."

"I don't like either of those. But mixed together," he teased, "that could be a nice little dish. You know what I mean? And not just the little pink spoon, I want the whole sundae." He winked at her and she smiled back.

"That can be arranged."

"Perfect. 'Could be arranged.' You hear that?" He elbowed Emma, "I'd like to have her kick my ass, know what I mean?" When Emma showed no sign of amusement or even acknowledging his flirting he shifted back to the conversation that was still clearly on her mind. "Any other details besides her weight class?"

"Laptop."

"Sorry? You're in a whole zone right now."

"Laptop."

"O-kay," he shrugged off Emma's blank stare and weird behavior. She was just stressed. "Okay, laptop. Let's get Ruby to check it out."

xxx

"I want to know who that bitch is," Regina raged, storming through the office while Lacey tried to tend to the cut on her back. "Get me that tape," she waved her away.

"But, Regina-"

"Get me that tape!" Her cell phone rang and she checked the caller ID, ready to ignore the call until she saw who it was on the other line. "The FBI secured the package. The window's closed, mother."

"I told you we couldn't afford mistakes."

"There was another player."

"We do not leave witnesses, Regina. If this player ID'd you... You know the rules. Regardless of who your mother is, you still have to play by them. You have 48 hours to clean the scene."

"Looking forward to it," Regina replied sarcastically before ending the call. She knew her mother would rip into her for not issuing a proper farewell but she was already beyond pissed. They both were. Fuck it. What else can go wrong? "Okay, people. We have a new target. Let's find out who our 'civilian' is."

xxx

"Jesus," Ruby held the laptop by the screen between her thumb and pointer finger, not sure where she should start. "What did you do to it? Put a campfire out with it?"

"Rubes, I'm not having such a great day. In fact, yesterday kinda sucked too. So I'm just hoping you can tell me who the owner of this laptop is and if you'd leave the running commentary out as a bonus, I would be forever grateful."

Ruby chuckled, figuring Emma deserved a temporary reprieve because of the mess the owner of the laptop/charcoal briquette had gotten her into and got to work in silence.

A few minutes ticked by before her tinkering was successful, "Here we go. Upgraded RAM module." She pulled the chip out and ran the serial number. Numbers flicked across her screen as the information was sorted and loaded. "Chip's Chinese. Imported by Dynamix. Retailed by..." she typed some information in, "...huh. You know, I might be able to get you a billing address." She typed and her screen flashed with some more information before she leaned back in her seat, pointing at the screen. "All right. No name, just an address. 570 Lexington Avenue, Suite 5003. You know the place?"

It was vaguely familiar and Emma rushed out with a quick thanks, racing to her shooter's address.

Once she got near the building she immediately knew why the address had sounded so familiar. She slowly ambled her way inside to the directory in the middle of the lobby. Scanning the 5000 suites on the board she stumbled back when her finger highlighted the information for 5003.

i-TEMP TECHNOLOGY STAFFING

REGINA SMITH, CEO

And just like that, everything clicked.

"Holy fuckballs."

xxx

Regina sat at her desk reviewing the tape she asked for. It was the digital footage from her binoculars she had electronically transferred to Kathryn during the op. She was watching the 'civilian' drop to the dirt after Regina had taken her shot, then sit up and clutch at the entrywound. She hadn't seen this before as her attention had been diverted to her mark. When the 'civilian' turned around and ripped goggles off long blonde hair was revealed. Regina leaned forward in her seat when the blonde hair was shook out in loose curls.

"Regina," Lacey called out from the open door, a phone in her hand. "It's your wife." Regina's mouth dropped open and she hit the rewind button on the footage, ignoring Lacey because she immediately recognized the 'civilian.' She had seen Emma shake her hair out like that nearly every time she stepped out of the shower. "She's back early from her work trip and wants to know about dinner."

And just like that, everything clicked.

"Tell her..." Regina looked up from her computer screen with an evil smile, "...dinner is at seven."

"Hi, Emma," Lacey chirped back on the line. "She says dinner's at seven."

Emma smirked, "It always is."

Later that night...

Emma slowly pulled in the driveway looking for suspicious activity. Ruby and August had told her not to act crazy or go in guns blazing. She needed to approach this like any tactical mission. She had a target. She knew where the target was going to be and at what time. If she acted funny Regina would immediately notice something was going on and bolt. This was her one chance to fix things and take the bitch out. The problem? The bitch was also her wife.

She backed her car into the garage beside Regina's like normal. She slipped her wedding band back on like normal. She could do this. She could be normal. She realized when she slowly opened the back door and ducked her head in to survey the kitchen after creeping and skulking her way up from the garage that she looked anything but normal. She was on edge. She pulled her coat off, hung it on the coat rack, and when she turned back around to enter the kitchen nearly jumped out of her skin noticing Regina silently standing in the doorway. The sneaky brunette had silently snuck up behind her and was now standing there with a glass of scotch.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Emma gasped. Usually the clicking of Regina's heels alerted Emma to her wife's presence. She looked down and noticed the usual heels were missing, making Regina much shorter and apparently much quieter.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I startle you, darling?"

"A little," Emma answered honestly with a nervous chuckle.

"It is 7:00," Regina smiled innocently. "Perfect timing, darling."

"As always," Emma smirked, then reached out to take the glass of scotch from Regina. "This is a nice surprise."

"I hope so. You're home early."

"I missed you."

Regina smiled and Emma could almost hear the evil laughter that was no doubt going through her mind, "I missed you, too."

"Hmm," Emma hummed.

They stared at each other for a moment and it was not the stare of loving spouses who had been separated during a business trip. It was the stare of cat and mouse and Emma was left hoping that for once in this marriage, she was the cat.

"Shall we?" Regina gestured towards the dining room.

Before Emma could turn and follow she noticed a jug of Draino sitting on the kitchen counter and gulped. Is this asshole really trying to poison me? She slowly trudged behind and when Regina gestured for her to take a seat she noticed the fine china on the table.

"I thought you only brought these out for special occassions."

"This is a special occassion," Regina said sweetly.

Emma just tilted her head, her body language alone screaming Really?

Regina nodded and motioned again for her to take her seat. As she passed, Regina took her glass and helped herself to a healthy sip of the blonde's scotch, then winked at her and pressed the glass back into her hand.

You should have known there would be mind games. That doesn't mean she's not trying to poison you. Maybe that was a mind game to throw you off her tracks.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and when Regina left the room to grab the main course Emma pocketed the knife left on her placemat. It was small, meant to be used with her fork and on food, not in a fight against her wife, but she wasn't taking any chances.

Regina reappeared and Emma gave her a bright smile, "Lasagna. My favorite." She shifted nervously in her seat when Regina pulled out a large knife to cut out their servings. She jumped up, taking the knife out of Regina's hands, "Here. Let me do it, babe. You've been on your feet all day."

"Thank you."

Regina walked around the table and pulled an even bigger knife out from under her apron and began slicing the garlic bread. They served each other and placed the knives down strategically within grabbing distance.

"So how's work?"

"Actually," Regina chuckled, "we had a little trouble with a commission."

"Is that right?"

"Mhm. Double booking with another firm."

Emma's lips curved up of their own accord, tilting into a small smile she was unable to hold back. If this was happening to anyone else she would be laughing.

"Well, I hope everything worked out okay."

"It hasn't yet, but it will. I hope you enjoy your dinner. I know it's your favorite."

Emma smirked at the way Regina was smiling at her. She looked like a sweet angelic little thing. Angels don't shoot people with long range rifles. Nice try, she devil. With that thought alone Emma couldn't resist asking once more, just for old time's sake, "Babe, could you pass the salt?" When Regina motioned for Emma to look down she noticed her wife had moved it right in front of her plate. She couldn't hold the laughter in after that. With a chuckle she picked it up and shook it over her food, maintaining eye contact with Regina from across the table. The brunette sat studying the blonde, looking completely calm with her chin resting atop her folded hands. Emma took a big bite after Regina took a small dainty one, but then realized she was eating the lasagna and Regina was eating a bite of salad. She tugged on the collar of her sweater, suddenly convincing herself once again that her wife had poisoned her. There was definitely a different taste to the meal and it was not helping her paranoia. "Try something new?"

"Red pepper flakes. Gives it a little kick that's to die for."

"Mm." Emma tugged on her collar again and reached for her glass of water to wash it down but thought better of it and picked up the scotch instead, deciding Regina wouldn't ingest poison just to bluff her out.

"How was your dam project?"

"Had a few problems ourselves. Some figures didn't add up."

"Big deal?"

"Life or death." Emma stood, deciding the game had gone on long enough and it was time to call Regina out. "Wine?"

She picked up Regina's wine glass and gave her a healthy serving, but remained standing at the brunette's side after passing it back. Without warning, she dropped the wine bottle and Regina reflexively reached out and grabbed it before it could hit the floor. Emma's eyes widened and she met Regina's curious gaze before the brunette realized she too was caught. She dropped the bottle and let it splash on the rug and they both made their way in separate directions, rushing off with excuses to get something to clean the mess with.

Emma ducked into the den, quickly emerging with a gun, silencer screwed into the muzzle. She looked around the corner before ducking back into the dining room.

"Gina? Babe?" She saw lights bouncing off the walls, then heard tires squealing and when she looked out the window she saw Regina peeling away. She ran out the front door and started cutting across her neighbors' yards, trying to catch up with Regina's speeding car. "Regina!"

Regina shook her head, tears in her eyes. "How could I be so stupid?"

"Regina!" Emma yelled out, attempting to jump a fence to finally cut Regina's escape off when one of the wooden slats gave out and cracked in the middle. Her arm fell through and she accidentally squeezed the trigger on her gun, firing off a shot. "Oh dear god," she muttered when she heard the sound of slamming breaks. She pulled her arm back through the hole in the fence and looked down the street where Regina's car was parked in the middle of the road, a bullet hole in the middle of her windshield. She pulled herself over the fence and walked to the middle of the street, facing her now glaring wife and holding her hands in the air. "Regina," she started to explain when the brunette revved her engine. "Wait! No, no, no, no, no. Accident. Babe? That was an accident." Regina stomped down on the gas and Emma pointed at her, "Regina, stop the car, now. Regina?" Regina didn't stop the car. She didn't slow down. She hit Emma and watched as the blonde rolled up the windshield and onto the roof. "You're overreacting." Regina started swerving, trying to throw Emma off. "Let's not get carried away. We don't want to go to sleep angry. Pull over." Regina looked up and saw Emma through her moonroof and punched the glass, not hard enough to break it, just hard enough to hurt her own hand and get her point across to her wife that there was no fucking way she was pulling over. She closed the visor so she wouldn't have to see Emma anymore and continued swerving. "Now, look..." Emma swung her legs over the side of the roof and kicked in the rear window behind Regina, swinging her body into the back seat. "We need to talk!"

Apparently, Regina disagreed. She opened the driver's door and rolled out, letting her car drive off the road, crashing somehwere in the woods.

Later that night...

"Okay, I'm coming! Who is it?" Ruby yelled at whoever was banging on her door.

"It's Emma!" The banging continued, "Open the fucking door!"

Ruby unlocked all the deadbolts and yanked the door open, ready to tear into the blonde when she saw maybe somebody already had.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"My wife."