(AN: Italics are past. Also I'm taking super AU liberties with this.)

Chapter 2

"Stop thinking so hard," a sleepy voice mumbled from the mountain of covers thrown about her bed. "It's waking me up."

"How do you know i'm thinking if you are sleeping," Roni asked as she moved closer to the mattress and knelt down on the space she vacated many hours before. Normally, she would have stripped off all her clothes and crawled into bed with the beautiful form laying in her bed; but now, she hesitated. She felt two instincts fighting within her as she tentatively reached out and softly pushed Rose's hair back off her face so she could better see the woman.

She hadn't aged. But, to be fair none of them had. Regina remembered when she had last seen the woman in person, when Snow had held her hand and she clicked her heels three times in the sepia coloured trip to hell she had the rest of her family embarked on all those years ago. Red had gone away to be with her true love in Oz… How is it possible that she was here now? In Hyperion Heights… In her bed of all places.

"You are radiating weird energy," Rose mumbled as she rolled onto her stomach, and closer to Roni, her head sliding into the woman's lap once she was seated. "Where did you go last night? I saw you were talking to Ivy and then you bounced."

"Ivy is a little flea," Regina grumbled as she instinctively began running her fingers though Ruby's hair… Rose's hair she corrected herself once she realized the name had crossed her mind. "I went to see that cop Rogers." She shrugged, "Wanted to file a report against that asshat that got into a fight the other day in the bar. Then I drove around for a bit and ended up crashing in the back of the jeep and watching the sunrise." She wasn't totally lying. She did end up driving her jeep "How was the rest of the night at the bar?"

"Fine," Rose replied not believing her lover in the least, "You don't have to lie, Roni. You can just say it's none of my business." The younger woman was alert now, and moving to sit up. Regina sighed as she watched the woman, and the glorious naked body she had come to worship, leave her bed. "Hey," She said as she grabbed her hand, "You know it's not like that. I just… It's something i'm working on and I don't wanna talk about it yet, okay?" Rose nodded, as she moved closer and leaned down and gently kissed Roni. After a moment she pulled back and ran her thumb across the muted pink lip she just left. "What?" Roni asked breathily.

"Why does this feel different?" Rose whispered, causing Regina's eyes to blink open to meet the dark obsidian ones gazing back at her. The taller woman leaned down and kissed Roni again, deeper, but just as softly as before. "I'm not minding the different." She said as she pulled away with a smile.

"Red?" Regina asked carefully as she watched the girl across the room. Rose stopped, as her legs slipped into a pair of leggings.

"Huh?"

Regina signed, almost sad that the kiss hadn't broken whatever curse they were currently under, "Wear the red." she said as she pointed to the small mass of clothes that Rose had at her apartment.

"You always did like me in red," Rose smirked as she pulled on a pair of denim shorts over her leggings and grabbed the red bra that she assumed Roni had bene meaning.

"Yeah, I always have." Regina smiled before laying back on her bed with years and years of memories of the other woman swirling through her head.

"So, tell me about yourself," Rose asked after a few weeks of working at Roni's. Day in and out she would work alongside her enigma of a boss. She would tell stories of the lemurs she saw in Nepal, as well as the stories she made up about patrons at the diner she worked at back east. When the bar got busy at night the younger woman couldn't help but smile when she heard the throaty laugh from her boss as she interacted some of her more loyal patrons and the scarce friend that stopped by. Rose had met and become friendly with a few faces around the neighbourhood, mostly her next door neighbour Henry and his friends Jacinda and the cop, Rogers.

"Not much to tell," Roni shrugged as she hopped up onto the back bar and started dusting the shelf. Rose stopped wiping the tables and admired the form fitting black jeans and the curve of the woman's muscular arm and shoulders showing beneath her tank top. "Came to Seattle liked bars, worked in bars, bought a bar…" she said simply, amused at the blatant staring the younger woman was doing that she could see in the mirror behind the bottles. "Dear, my ass is nowhere near the tables that need polishing."

"Shit," Rose fumbled as she reached for her cloth, "Um, yeah…" she exclaimed awkwardly as she tried to hide the blush the now crept over her pale features. Roni hopped down off the bar and rounded it to hop on a stool to watch her employee. "Because that was embarrassing enough, you're going to watch me and make it 100x more awkward for me?"

Roni let out a loud laugh, throwing her head back in the way that had begun to drive Rose crazy, "Not at all, you gotta watch my ass… I think it's only fair I can watch yours for a moment. That sound okay?" The waitress looked dumbstruck for a moment before slowly nodding.

That was the start of several very long weeks of shameless flirting before ether one of them finally made a move.

Regina leaned against the back door of her bar, she lifted the half smoked cigarette to her lips and took a shallow puff. She would have been grossed out by her own alter ego smoking, but after the headache from her personality shift had caused she honestly couldn't care. She sighed an exhale, her hand rubbing under the black rimmed glasses she had been forced to wear today because of said headache. She didn't know how to handle this. How to handle Henry not remembering her, having a granddaughter, a look-alike hook, an evil mother and daughter duo; and most of all, she hand no idea what to do about the fact that she not only was sleeping with Ruby… but she could feel Roni's… her love for her.

"Roni," A voice called out in a sing-song pitched tone. The former evil queen snapped her head towards the right side of the ally and groaned when she saw the girl that seemed to be the cause of a whole lot of headaches around town, Tilly.

"Dear god, not today." She groaned, not nearly rested or civil enough to handle her.

"I heard through the dandelions that you remember," The somewhat-mad girl smiled as she leaned against the brick, "Your Mum really did a number on Wonderland, your highness."

Regina's head snapped towards Tilly but the blond had scampered off through the alley before she could reply, "Shit… Alice?"