well, here's chapter two early, I decided to post this one without sending it to my beta so she gets to read this one like everyone else whose fallen in love with it so...surprise, boxohearts, lol love ya. Enjoy and PLZ PLZ PLZ review.

disclaimer: I don't own these OuaT or its characters. (If I did then SwanQueen would have happened long ago.)


"Lead the way, Your Highness."

Regina simply rolled her eyes at the blonde's attempt to get a rise out of her. She walked out of the kitchen with the younger woman silently trailing behind her. They remained silent as they made their way up the stairs and down the hallway. The brunette opened the door and stepped aside so the blonde could enter the room. As Regina shut the door and turned on the light, Emma carried Rapunzel towards the bed but didn't place her on it. When she noticed this, the older woman arched a questioning eyebrow at her.

"I didn't think you wanted bloodstains on your sheets," Emma stated simply with a slight shrug.

"Don't worry about it. This room has never really been used and the sheets are easily replaced," she replied as she tugged the covers down.

Emma laid the unconscious young woman upon the bed and pulled the covers up to her shoulders. Regina stood at the end of the bed, watching as the blonde tended to the girl, and felt the tiniest twinge of jealousy at the care Emma was showing her.

Don't be ridiculous, Regina, she told herself, the girl saved Emma's life, so of course Emma is concerned about her. There's nothing more between them. And why do you care if there is something going on between them, anyway? You told yourself a thousand times that that night with Emma should never have happened. That's why you had avoided her up until that day she and Snow fell through Jefferson's hat. You do NOT care for Emma like that, she scolded herself over and over again inside her head.

Regina had been so submersed in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed that the blonde had been attempting to get her attention for the last two minutes. The only thing that had broken through her torrent of thoughts was the feel of Emma's hands on her shoulders, gently squeezing. When Regina finally came back to herself, she blinked several times and found herself looking into Emma's eyes for the second time that night.

"Regina, are you sure you're all right," Emma asked, once again the genuine concern evident upon her face and in her voice. "And don't try to lie or change the subject."

"I...I haven't used magic since the night that you fell through the portal. I promised Henry that I would no longer use it. I know he will not mind this time because it was to save Rapunzel's life, but it still took a lot out of me because my body is not used to using magic, anymore," she replied. It wasn't a lie, it just wasn't all of the truth. As she thought on the strain that using magic had put on her body, she realized that she really should go sit down and relax so that she didn't put any stress on the baby. Her hand moved to rest against her stomach of its own accord.

The action was not lost on Emma, nor was the worried look that flitted across the older woman's face, but she chose to let it go. Regina would only lash out if Emma pushed her into telling her what was bothering her. It was better to just let the brunette talk about it in her own time and on her own terms.

Emma realized that she still had her hands on Regina's shoulders. She jerked her hands away as though she'd just been burnt, worried that she would be subject to the former queen's wrath for touching her like that. Emma was so busy shoving her hands into her pockets and staring down at her feet that she didn't notice the brief hurt look on Regina's face before the older woman managed to hide it. When Emma looked back at her, Regina was giving her an indifferent stare.

"Um...Henry will be here soon...we should go down stairs," Emma stammered shyly, looking down at her feet again.

Regina looks at the other woman curiously, surprised by her shy behavior. This was so unlike the cocky sheriff that Regina didn't know how to react to this timid version of the woman. Without another word, Emma turned and left the room, heading down the stairs as fast as she could without running. The brunette stared after the retreating blonde, utterly stunned by the other woman's actions. This was not the overconfident, fiery young woman that Regina had come to know. This was someone else entirely.

It was as though Emma was afraid of Regina, but the brunette knew far better than that. Miss Swan had never been afraid of the mayor of Storybrooke, even when she plenty of valid reason's to fear her, especially after the curse broke, but she just didn't. No, not only had she refused to fear the mayor, but she had saved the woman from death on multiple occasions even though Regina had not believed she had deserved it, and had went right back to treating the younger woman horribly after each of the encounters.

At the thought of that, her mind wandered back to the last time Emma had saved her life. They had been attempting to send the wraith, that Rumplestiltskin had sent to kill Regina, to another world through The Mad Hatter's...Jefferson's, hat. They had been in the town hall getting the portal open when the wraith had come crashing through one of the windows, making a beeline straight for Regina, who had been standing in front of said portal. The mayor had stood there in shock as it rushed her, only to be shoved out of its path by Emma. Both Emma and the wraith had tumbled into the portal, followed by Snow. Regina and David had had every intention of following them, but the portal had closed before they had reached it.

Then, a week later, Regina found out that she was pregnant and knew that somehow the child was Emma's because Emma was the only one she'd been with since Graham had died, and that was months ago. After that, Regina just didn't quite know what to do. She had went to the women's clinic in town to confirm it because there, confidentiality was a requirement and she knew she could find out without it being spread all over the small town.

At the time, she had been six weeks pregnant, but now she was three months into the pregnancy, and now Emma was back. How am I going to tell her, Regina thought to herself. I'll have to tell her sometime soon, or she'll just find out on her own and that won't go well. With that last thought, Regina left the guestroom, closing the door behind her and turning off the light as she went, and slowly made her way down the stairs.


When Emma got down stairs, she went into the living room where her mother...Snow White...Mary Margret, Emma still wasn't sure what to call the woman, had just finished speaking to David. Snow looked up at the sound of footsteps to see her daughter enter alone.

"So...did you tell her," Snow asked, not needing to elaborate on who her was.

"No. I panicked, okay. I just don't know how to tell her," Emma said, exasperated.

"Just tell her you love her. There's nothing more to it than that."