Chapter 2

A.N. – So it looks like we will continue the story! Honestly, one follower would have been enough of a prompt to continue, and I'm super excited about the turnout! I'll try to make the coming chapters longer than the test run. Reviewers, you are awesome people and I'm mentally sending kind thoughts your way.

Suggestions, comments, helpful hints, grammar scoldings, smilie faces…all welcome!

"Mornin', Granny!" Emma shouted as she approached Granny in the main hallway after her morning shower.

"Mornin', Emma! Stopping by the cafeteria for breakfast today?" Granny asked her question, already knowing the answer. Granny knew that Emma was a big fan of having "Granny's Diner" officially takeover the college cafeteria.

"Just a quick stop before my 9AM recruits. I like to eat a bear claw right in front of them while they're doing laps. It lets them know who's in charge." Emma winked at Granny and smirked at her own joke. "What's for lunch today?" She inquired.

"Well, it was going to be meatloaf, but then I had to put Ruby on lunch duty to do an order down at the diner, so…"

"So meat blob with a side of sauce that we're pretending isn't warmed up ketchup?" Emma smiled knowing exactly what Granny was thinking but not saying.

"She is trying, ya know. Give her the benefit of the doubt. And when you've choked down enough doubt, stop by the diner for my chili." Granny leaned in to add, "I won't tell if you wont."

Emma laughed. "Sure thing. Poor Rubes. Who decided that a werewolf would be interested in cooking the meat first? It's like a battle of nature versus nurture in there."

"Okay, Regina. Pull it together. You are not a lovesick puppy. You are the Evil Queen. You crush kingdoms. You rain fire on your opponents without a thought for their pain and suffering. You rule with an iron fist. You park in the handicapped parking space without having the courtesy to so much as fake a limp. Get. It. Together." Regina's morning watching session was now followed by her morning pep talk/Evil Daily Affirmations, preparing for her morning budget analysis.

Unfortunately, transitioning from Queen to Mayor, and from Mayor to Administrative Chair, respectively, was less than exciting. It was a switch from the loaded baked potato to a boiled sprout with the dirt left on it. As such, the former Mayor found it more and more difficult to maintain the cool composure that she believed would throw the ever more attractive Savior off her trail.

It didn't help knowing that she would pretend to sit alone in the cafeteria at lunchtime, knowing the Savior would see her and sit with her. It also didn't help that she knew that her entire afternoon was booked around Emma-related activities.

And it certainly didn't help that she realized she had sent a file to the newly elected Mayor from a folder titled, "Regina Swan". It was just something she tried out on a whim! It was going to be deleted, the Queen just wanted to see what her name would look like, just in case. She didn't even realize she had actually put files in the folder before it was deleted, much less a file she needed to send the Mayor. Hence, the pep talk, yet again, back into Queen Mode.

Queen Mode was fully activated by the time the phone rang.

"Really, Regina? Now you're not just attached at the hip, but you took her last name?" Mayor Tinkerbell shouted playfully through the phone. She couldn't get any more than that out before the Fairy's laughing fit started.

"My apologies. That was supposed to say 'Regina/Emma', but I'm used to having to yell at the Savior using her last name. It's more effective. Regardless of misnaming, that is the file that Emma and I put together to fit in an additional Fitness & Fighting instructor into the budget." Regina covered her little file name slip up and moved right along.

"Right. The file name was a 'mistake'. Please, Regina. Like I don't know you by now." Mayor Tinkerbell wasn't having it. She knew what the file was. She also knew she was going to approve any public funds the two asked for, both as a personal favor and to keep the town safe from future magical invasions. "I know when you're lovesick, Regina."

"Really, dear? And how would you know that? Because of our TWO dates that both ended in us looking for ways to end the dates early without offending the other?" Regina was losing patience. She didn't like being called out on her bullshit, or being mocked, particularly from someone who she knew kissed like an excited golden retriever.

The fairy paused. "I know, Regina, because it's the kind of thing you would never have done with me. Have you ever attempted to create a secret portal in a ladies bathroom while out with Emma? I didn't think so. Which is why we knew we were all kinds of wrong, and I know that you seeing that name feels all kinds of right. Don't roll your eyes, your majesty. I can feel you rolling them from across town."

"The budget, Tink?" Regina was now out of patience, and in her second blush of the day. She really didn't appreciate Tink bringing up her second attempt at exiting a date, only to be caught with a lame cover-up. She knew as soon as the entire bar started shaking and the manager busted her standing over her makeshift sink portal ready to jump that she would not be going on another date with Tinkerbell. How bad does a date have to be before someone has to be willing to escape the realm to leave early? Really, at only 9:30AM the day could shape up to be some sort of embarrassment record at this rate.

"Officially, I have to run this past the Dwarves at the next council meeting. Unofficially, of course we're going to find a way to pay Mulan to come and help us. We can't expect Emma and Charming to do everything physical in a school that has coursework that is 50% physical training."

"We appreciate that, Tink. Emma hasn't had a sick day, vacation day, or full weekend since we started taking students. I think this will be a big help." Regina was now attempting to wrap up this call before it became any more uncomfortable.

"Great. Then we'll see you at the next joint council. Until then, Regina Swan, if Emma needs a vacation day, I'm sure you can figure something out."

Regina hung up. Regina frequently hung up on the new Mayor. Even though they decided to be friends, and really didn't bother each other in an all-out-anger type of way, the Fairy seemed to take pleasure in the fact that after her two failed dates with the Mayor, and dating the Savior for three months afterwards, now her two exes were now apparently gravitating towards each other. Regina, however, didn't like that Emma had also stayed friends with Tinkerbell. After all, Regina only went on two dates with her. It's not really staying friends with an ex if you were never actually girlfriends. Emma and Tink – that was a whole different story.

"Small world" didn't even begin to cover Storybrooke at this point.

Regina sat in the cafeteria trying to figure out exactly what was on her plate, if it required both a fork and a knife, and perhaps if it might still be alive. Sloppy Joe without a bun? Maybe someone had just vomited on her tray as some sort of curse revenge and everyone else was getting sandwiches?

"Don't eat that." The Savior showed up, living up to her name and sparing Regina the heartache of mid-day heartburn. "Granny's over at the diner today. This culinary creation is all Ruby."

Regina, up until that point, was pretty sure that her main dish was so undercooked that PETA was going to show up to save it. Now, her full concentration was on Emma. Emma, who had sat right next to her, and leaned in to whisper this information, staying by Regina's ear to wait for a response. The response was Regina's gasp at feeling the Savior's breath on her skin.

Emma then upped her ante, placing a hand on Regina's upper arm. The hand felt warm to Regina, both comforting and seductive. She wanted it to stay right where it was. "We're going to sit and push this around with a fork and knife until Ruby comes out, we're going to smile and wave, and then we're going to throw this out and book it to Granny's before they're out of chili. Are you in?" Emma had no reason to whisper this information. Nobody would have been close enough to hear them. She was just looking for reasons to touch Regina at this point. At least once a day, and preferably close enough for them to feel each other's breath.

Regina could feel Emma on her arm and her closeness to the side of her face. She had to think of a way to prolong the contact. Her first instinct is to argue.

"Oh? And how do we know that Granny simply won't tell Ruby that we ditched her lunch?" Regina whispered back to Emma, enjoying their now private, breathy conversation. She brushed her cheek against Emma's, feeling the soft skin for one sweet second.

"It was Granny's idea, actually. Come play hooky with me for lunch. Don't make me sit at the counter all by myself." Emma was now rubbing Regina's arm for emphasis. At this point, Regina would have eaten whatever Emma had suggested for lunch, dinner, and any meals thereafter.

Regina pulled back just a bit to look Emma in the eyes. "I'm in. But only so you're not alone at the counter."

Ruby saw Emma and Regina nuzzling each other from the cafeteria line, as though they were pretending just to have a whispering conversation. She took out her phone to send a text.

They're doing it again. Seriously.

Snow's reply came less than a minute later.

What are we supposed to do? If they don't want to move this along, that's up to them.

Aren't you supposed to want your princess daughter to marry another royal? We have to help.

I think we should let this happen naturally.

Not a chance, Ruby thought.

Meanwhile, Henry was at Storybrooke High having his own lunch adventures.

"Honestly, Henry. You can just introduce me as a 'friend'. We don't have to say anything about dating. You met my sister after our first date!" Lilo was getting increasingly upset with this conversation that they seemed to be having regularly by now.

"It's not that I don't want you to ever meet them, but if they know, they're going to be stricter. No more telling Mom, 'I'm just going out with friends' and coming home without a curfew. No more wiggling out of Emma trying to give me 'The Talk', like I'm 10, not 14." Henry visibly shuddered at that one. Once Henry started to show signs of puberty, Emma thought she would be the "cool" parent and try, embarrassingly so for both of them, to talk him through it.

When Henry was 12, they found that he had a lingerie catalog, which coincided with Henry's sudden need to take 30-minute showers. Emma thought she would sit him down for milkshakes at Granny's to discuss "natural urges". The conversation involved a lot of choking on the straw and saying, "Umm. Yeah. You know." When he was 13, Emma tried to explain safer sex, or what she called "going to the adult waterpark". Henry was not amused, and now a little afraid of both condoms and dental dams.

"Lilo, as long as they don't know I'm your boyfriend, they can't make dating rules. I can hang out with you whenever, and we can do anything. And I reeeeeeeally don't want to hear whatever talk Emma would have in store for this." He was being honest. He never hid his relationship with Lilo from friends, or at school. They held hands anywhere they went, so long as "anywhere" didn't include "anywhere near his moms".

"I understand. I just – your moms are really cool, Henry. If you think it's because they won't like me –"

"It's not! I promise. I will tell them, eventually. I just want to enjoy the freedom that we have right now." Lilo sighed. She also enjoyed that she and Henry had basically spent the last month making out all over Storybrooke, without parental supervision. But she also wanted to make the relationship real.

"Give him a few more weeks," she said internally, "let's enjoy the ride, but I want to be his girlfriend officially."

"Look, it's not like you can't take care of yourself. I understand. But I don't like the idea that someone could figure out how to take your magic, and then have you be defenseless. Do you not remember the cuff that Greg made? And he didn't even have magic to figure out a device to stop it." Emma was getting frustrated.

She had been trying to convince Regina to train with her for quite some time now, and it seems the Evil Queen had no interest in learning any sort of self-defense that required breaking a sweat.

"The cuff was a lucky break. I won't be so stupid as to let someone put something on me again, unless I know it doesn't take away my magic." Regina thought the idea of someone stalling her magic again would be far fetched, and really had no desire to learn weaponry.

"Regina, something could happen and I might not be there."

"Emma, nothing is going to happen, and if something did happen, we now have an entire Royal Guard."

"Fine. Would you rather I assign you a guard at all times? A bodyguard is an acceptable alternative."

"I am not being followed around by some barely-out-of-puberty meathead looking for a replacement for high school football practice. It is fine, Emma."

"IT IS NOT FINE!" Emma yelled, causing the other customers at Granny's to immediately hush and stare. "I watched you during the War from my station, Regina. I watched you take hit after hit."

Emma's lip now quivered and her voice shook. Emotionally, she was reliving the moment when she thought they might not win, and she would lose Regina. It was worse than if she were in danger herself.

"I had to watch you take blow after blow and I can't do it again, Regina." The Queen saw the emotion and realized very quickly that Emma genuinely was concerned for her. She wasn't teasing her into learning to do a push-up, or even flirting. She was shaking out of the fear that something could happen to Regina, and they would both be powerless to stop it.

"Hey. Shhh." Regina put her hand on the Savior's back, and began soothingly rubbing up and down. "Okay. I think I understand now."

Emma was staring at the counter, not wanting to breathe or make eye contact, knowing that would be the moment the tears started. She had never cried in front of Regina, and she didn't want to start now. Regina moved closer, still rubbing Emma's back, slowly, and with care.

Putting her chin on the Savior's shoulder from the side, she continued to soothe Emma's shakiness from trying to hold in the tears. "I'm sorry, Emma. I'm just not used to someone asking me to do something because they care what happens to me."

This seemed to calm Emma down for the moment. Once she had herself composed, with Regina still rubbing her back with her right hand, now using her left on the Savior's forearm, she was able to speak.

"Do you remember back when the Witch first got here, and we went on a 'stakeout' together to try to catch her? We sat in my bug watching your office? I didn't need you, just like you didn't really need me. We didn't know who was the villain and I wanted to next to me in case something happened."

"I get it," Regina responded. "You can train me. But I warn you, the closest I've had to exercise in the last 30 years has been walking in heels. I probably cannot use a sword, but I have excellent calf muscles." They both chuckled at that one, and Emma stared at her admiringly, feeling closer now that she had shown a tad bit of vulnerability, and Regina had responded with nothing but care.

"Okay, I have an idea. Tomorrow night, we come here for Granny's all-you-can-eat dinner special. We carb up, and then the next morning you can come work out with me. I'll have you defending the town borders within a week." Emma was now smiling so brightly, with her giant Emma puppy eyes that Regina just couldn't say no to.

"Okay. But it worries me that whatever you're going to do to me on Friday morning requires a 'carb up' meal."

"I will be nothing but gentlemanly, your majesty". Emma's smile backed up her promise.

Regina couldn't tell if she meant at dinner, or at the training fields, but she did want to see what Emma's 'gentleman' side entailed.