Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Once Upon a Time

Chapter 2:

When Regina came to, she was laying down on something soft but she was cold. And wet. Why was she wet? She was having a hard time remembering what had happened. She had fallen off that horse, and gotten hurt and met a nice dog and…

"Hey, are you okay? You have been out for quite a while. We are in a small town close to where I found you. I just sent for a healer, I'm pretty worried about your leg."

Regina shot bolt upright as all the bad memories came back and winced as she moved her leg. There was that knight. That… very attractive knight. Oh Gods that is not what she should be thinking about right now. Mother would never approve.

"I… Who are you?" She asked bluntly, looking up into the kind face that was looking down on her.

"Oh. I'm Emma. Emma Swan. I am a mercenary knight and someone said this area was looking for good fighters. And I'm a good fighter." Emma glanced down at her leg, "Like I said, the healer should be here any minute. Apparently they are guild trained so you are lucky."

Guild trained? Oh. Oh no!

"No! No healer. I don't want a healer. I just need to wrap my knee. Its nothing serious and I don't…" Regina trailed off. Guild trained meant they were a magic user. Magic ran in her family and while Regina's gift had yet to show, most other magics made her sick. Her mother had told her that the stronger the gift, the more sick different magic would make her. She could handle Cora's magic, but anything else was asking for trouble.

Emma gave her a concerned look. "Are you sure? I doubt that leg is going to hold you up for very long but I wont force you into anything."

"Yes of course I am sure!" Regina snapped. She felt bad for reacting badly towards the blonde but pushed it aside when she realized just how muddy she was. "I guess I should be grateful, if I wasn't so muddy, I am sure the entire tavern would notice who I am." Regina considered as she looked around the semi-filled tavern that Emma had brought her to. "I need to wash." She said to the knight who was hovering to the side.

"Yeah, I thought you might." Emma grinned quickly, "There was only one room left, but it has a decent bed and I will sleep down here. Or outside the door if you would prefer. They have a ladies bath just around the corner." She pointed towards a hallway that led away from the busy tables.

"I will probably need assistance to get there." Regina gestured to her knee.

"Of course. I was planning on coming as well. I somehow have mud down my breastplate." Emma leaned forward and helped Regina to her feet and wrapped a leather clad arm around her waist.

"I have never… Is it a public bath?" Regina questioned, suddenly concerned. She had never been in a public bath. The only people who were ever there in the castle were servants and they allowed her the privacy that she asked for. How was she supposed to bathe with other people in the room?

"Yes, why wouldn't it be? But I doubt anyone will be in there besides us. I don't think I ever caught your name. You were too busy being unconscious in my saddle."

"My name is Regina. I live in the castle you are looking for." Regina didn't know why she was suddenly afraid to tell this obviously kind knight that she was a princess.

"Just my luck! I hope you can help me get there. I was feeling pretty lost this morning. You must be at least a lady-in-waiting judging by your dress. How did you end of by the side of a trail in the rain without a guard?" Emma inquired while walking slowly with the injured woman.

"I was foolish this morning and refused a guard while I went off riding on a horse I had never been on before." She said rolling her eyes at her own stupidity.

"Well I was once told to never ride another man's horse into unknown territory. If you haven't trained the horse yourself, you never know how they will react. And if you can't trust your horse, you can't trust anything." Emma quipped.

"I… where did you hear that?" Regina turned sharply almost yelling.

"Calm down. It's one of my claims to fame actually," Emma said with a wink, "I once met the past King of this country, may he rest in peace. He had borrowed one of his knights horses and had fallen off and the horse ran off. I picked him up and got him back to his camp. He gave me this actually." She reached to her neck and pulled out a chain with a simple silver ring set with black diamonds.

Seeing her father's ring hanging around this strangers neck, Regina allowed two years of emotions to overwhelm her and for the second time today, closed her eyes and collapsed.

Emma was starting to think she was bad luck. First she this woman had passed out in the woods, where Emma had barely been able to catch her. On top of that, Emma was pretty sure that she had been struck by lightning. Some weird white light had almost knocked her off her feet and had burned through her veins. But something told her it couldn't be lightning because in the strangest way, it felt… good. Right. And Emma hadn't felt right in years. Always on the move, never staying in one spot. And that white light felt like home. Shaking her head she had hoped that it had not injured the already hurt woman who was laying motionless in her arms. After a moment of indecision she had put them both on her saddle and continued on, which had led to this small tavern they were in. While she waited for the brunette to wake up, she had paid for a room, removed a majority of her armor, rubbed down Brouk and Vira and lodged them in the dingy, but dry barn that was part of the tavern. She had sloshed over to the couch and had waited only a moment before the woman woke again.

Now, for the second time, she was holding the unconscious woman in her arms and once again she had no idea what to do. Or what she had done. Maybe her injury had cause it? She didn't know why the damned woman was being so stubborn. There were many times Emma had wished she had a guild healer on hand. Granted they usually made her sick, but it was better of dying from a sword wound to the gut. And being sick was better than some goat herder sprinkling "healing herbs" that smelled suspiciously of garlic over a wound that if not treated could kill her. Realizing she was close to the baths, she kicked open the door and sat Regina down on the bench just inside the door. Thankfully, after only a minute, Regina's eyes flickered open.

"I don't think passing out for a second time is going to help my headache, or my leg. I am sorry you had to carry me again." Regina blushed and looked away embarrassed.

"Ha. Don't worry about it. I probably shouldn't have let you walk. It was rather stupid of me. Now let's get you out of the those clothes."

Regina quirked an eyebrow.

"I…uh. I didn't mean that. I meant, we are in the baths, obviously, and I… Actually I don't know what I was saying." Emma stuttered, flushing. "Good one. Way to make things awkward by pointing out the whole naked thing." She thought.

"Why is it so dark in here?" Regina asked, trying to change the subject, while frantically trying to think of a way to be modest while still getting clean. She was grateful that she had opted out of her stiff corset this morning, and had settled for riding leggings and a blouse or getting undressed by herself would be impossible. The room they were in was moderately sized, with several pools sunk into the floor that steamed slightly, fogging up the already dim room.

Emma gave her another odd look, "It so that its more of a private experience, so you can keep more modesty." She turned and began to remove her leather chafe guards and tunic.

"Of course."

Emma stripped away the rest of her muddy clothes and checked to make sure her bindings were not muddy as well. She turned around only to quickly turn back blushing. Of course Regina was taking off her clothes.

"Um. Could you help me into the water?" Regina had her arms folded across her binded chest in an attempt to cover up any skin that was showing. Emma cautiously grabbed her waist again gently eased her into the water while avoiding looking at the lean legs that extended out of black shorts.

"I'll just be over here. Call me if you need anything. You can slip off your bindings and we will get them washed. I have clothes that should probably fit you." Emma said as she set a towel down and walked over one of the other sunken pools in the room and slipped into the warm water. She slipped off her bindings and rinsed them and rubbed away the dirt and chill and prayed that this odd feeling in her chest would fade.

Regina sighed. The warm water was doing wonders for her stiff body. All that time spent huddled on the trail had frozen muscles she had no idea she had. And now she was battling some serious attraction to the blonde woman over in the other pool. She blushed when she thought about how muscled the other woman's body had been. She had barely been able to pull her eyes away from the toned stomach and rippling legs. Not to mention those arms. "No. You cannot ruin this. She seems nice. And normal. And nice. And Father obviously approved." She thought as a tear leaked down her face. She had always struggled to make friends being the princess and Henry had always been the one she had talked to about everything. He had cared and always worried that she would be alone. Maybe he was still looking out for her.

"Hey, is your leg hurting?" Emma's voice floated over her as she realized she was crouching next to her pool, wearing nothing but a towel, and holding both of their wet bindings looking concerned.

"Yes, but it will be alright."

"I hope so. I am going to drop these off with the maid and I will be back with some fresh clothes"

As Emma walked out the door Regina hastily pulled herself out of the bath and wrapped the towel around her clean body ignoring the twinge in her knee.

When Emma walked back in, she was dressed in an over sized tunic and carried some clothes in her hand.

"They will probably be a bit big but at least they are clean. I will let you get dressed."

Regina used Emma's proffered hand and limped over to the bench and began to slip on the borrow clothes while the blonde watched the door. They smelled nice. Like vanilla. And fresh grass. She shook her head and allowed Emma to direct her into an adjoining room where she collapsed on the bed and instantly fell asleep.

Smiling, Emma looked down at the exhausted Regina and pulled the blankets over her while carefully arranging an extra pillow around the injured knee. Feeling the drain of the day, Emma grabbed her sword, slid the extra pallet in front of the door, lay down and drifted off.