The day had passed unbearably slow, all Emma wanted was for it to be over. More rumours had spread about her background; they were getting more outrageous yet more painful everyday morphing into disgusting beasts. Emma's courage from yesterday had been destroyed and replaced by an icy fear.

Things could only get worse as far as she was concerned - she had made a terrible mistake ordering the queen around like that. Emma knew just how terrifying Regina could be; she had seen it with her own eyes a dozen times around the school. Every time she had merely thought thank goodness it wasn't her on the receiving end of Regina's wrath. She had felt no sympathy or concern for those who had been but now she could be in their place she regretted ever walking away pretending she had never seen anything. Emma hopelessly wished she had gone to them afterwards and tried to comfort them maybe then she'd of made a friend.

It had only recently begun to dawn on Emma how dreadfully lonely she was. She hadn't bothered to attempt to make any friends or even allies. How could she? Especially when she was likely to move again soon, to a new home, with new people who didn't care about her and never would because she'd be out of their lives soon enough. It was a recurring cycle and one that Emma had gotten used to. She never bothered unpacking her stuff, only the necessary bits. Emma sighed shaking her head in a half-assed attempt to shake them from her mind. She had more pressing things to worry about. Regina.

She was sat inside the library nervously drumming her fingers against the table after arriving 20 minutes early than the agreed time. The more she willed time to speed up, the more it seemed to slow down. 15 minutes later she was lightly banging her head against the wooden desk thinking the world would be great if unicorns-

"What are you doing?" The voice was frosty and stern yet surprisingly vulnerable. Emma noted that the vulnerability reached Regina's eyes but her evil demeanour did not.

"N-Nothing." Emma stumbled out, cursing herself for being so damn nervous. "I was doing nothing."

Regina quirked an eyebrow, a faint glimmer of amusement in her eyes "Really? Not trying to do yourself injury?"

Now it was Emma's turn to be confused. "Why would I try to-"

"Swan I'm well aware of what people think of me. Nobody wants to be around the evil queen, especially you." Regina cut in, placing her bag on the desk and gracefully sitting in the seat across from Emma. They're knees touched for a split second sending a small shiver through Emma's body. What was that?

"You're not that bad." Emma stated looking away; the words had left her mouth before she even knew they were coming way before she could stop herself. Emma didn't quite understand it but Regina had looked pained when she said that. Maybe Regina wasn't as tough as she thought. Was it okay to think that perhaps even the evil queen got lonely?

"What business do you wish to focus our project on?" Regina asked flatly. Plain ignorance! Emma was slightly pissed, she had just bloody complimented the evil queen and Regina had completely ignored it. She could at least say thank you or even dismiss her but ignorance was just wrong. "I was thinking Granny's since it's local and well-loved, it'll be easy to get the information we need from Ruby, pictures are easily obtainable and I doubt Granny will mind."

Emma couldn't look Regina in the eye for fear of shouting at her. She didn't understand why it upset her so much – everything Regina related just seemed to really bother her. "Sure."

"That wasn't very convincing."

"Sorry." Emma murmured.

"What happened to the spirit you had yesterday about working as a team?" Regina only seemed amused but Emma just felt tired.

"It was blown up by dark magic." Emma deadpanned, wondering if Regina would catch on.

Ow! Regina had flicked Emma's forehead. "Sorry to disappoint Swan but I have no magic. We should reschedule. You're obviously not in the right frame of mind."

Emma was rubbing at her forehead trying to soothe the pain– Regina had sharp nails. "You piss me off." Oops, Emma hadn't meant for that to slip out, she had just been thinking it. "Sorry, I didn't mean…well I did but gaaah."

Emma put her face in her hands; she was tempted to resume banging it against the table. But to her surprise Regina was laughing? What? Emma was pretty sure this had never happened before and she had no idea to respond so she simply waited. Her laugh was silky smooth, enticing and genuine, if you'd just met this person you'd have no idea she could be so sinister. "I have laughed before Swan. You needn't look so shocked."

"Can you blame me?" Emma retorted. Maybe Regina wasn't so bad.

"I wasn't always evil." Emma put on a face of mock horror and shock causing Regina to stifle another laugh. "It's true."

"I know." Emma was smiling now - proud of herself. She may have just managed the impossible. Regina was so damn gorgeous when she smiled. Her smile was evaporating Emma's nerves and fears…she felt safe. It was a feeling Emma hadn't felt in a long time. She didn't feel so lonely and she didn't want to let go of this feeling.

"You know?"

"If you had always been evil you wouldn't be able to smile like that or laugh wholeheartedly right?" Or be so broken Emma thought but didn't dare speak aloud.

So that's the second chapter, what do you think? Thank you again to my beta JuddGirl5 and check out some of her stories - they are brill. Sorry for anything OOC, any advice would be much appreciated. I hope you enjoyed this second installment, stay tuned for more