A/N 1: I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed and favourited this story. You all have no idea how encouraged I feel by it. And a special shout out to Donoterase who is my very first reviewer/follower! I have written a few chapters ahead so hopefully I can maintain that and update this story more regularly.

A/N 2: Just to prepare you all this will be one of those slow burn fics. Even though we all know our ladies are madly in love, they still need to catch up with the rest of us. But, when it happens it will really happen. So please hang in there with me.

Oh, and enjoy!

Chapter Two

"Alright, get to it."

Regina grimaced at that, "Contrary to what you may think Miss Swan, magic does actually require some skill and finesse."

"Oh, so you mean magic doesn't just magically happen? Bummer."

Regina rolled her eyes with a slight shake of her head. She turned and walked out of the foyer and Emma quickly followed.

As they made their way through the house, the apprehension that Emma had felt ever since Snow's earlier phone call only increased. The news of their child's absence was the worst thing a parent could hear. She had not taken a moment to process it. She had simply jumped into action mode. She called everyone and drove all over town until Snow had called her with David's insistence that Regina had kidnapped him.

She did not know if she believed it but she refused to take any chances- not with Henry. But one look at Regina's surprised expression, and Emma knew she was innocent. Regina was a good liar but not even she could fake that.

And now after everything that had happened lately, she was choosing to trust Regina. She had always been wary of the older woman but, of late, Regina had been desperately trying to show Henry that she was different. That she was no longer evil. She had saved Emma's life at that well and, although she was sure it took Henry's convincing, it made an impression on Emma.

No one else seemed convinced of the Evil Queen's change of heart. Many were certain she did not have one. And, at various times, not even Emma was sure. But this was about Henry. If there was one thing that Emma was completely sure of when it came to Regina, she would do anything to protect him. It was a blessing and a curse.

Regina stopped at a door that seemed to come out of nowhere for the pensive Emma. She unlocked it, opened and stepped aside slightly.

"After you." Regina gestured through the door. Emma leaned forward to take a peek inside. It was dark. Too dark. She may trust Regina's feelings for Henry but Emma was not stupid. She leaned back.

"Age before beauty." Emma quipped.

Regina gave a sarcastic smile. She stepped into the doorway and switched on the light revealing a descending staircase. She then looked back at Emma over her shoulder.

"You know, Princess, you could have just said that you were scared of the dark."

"I'm not…"

But Regina had already begun her graceful descent down the stairs and Emma, true to form, pounded down the stairs behind her.

"I can't believe you lost my son." Regina's tone was more disapproving than usual but lacked the bite that Emma had come to expect. There was a shift in their exchanges. The mayor of Storybrooke was black and white but the Evil Queen- this Regina- was a disconcerting shade of grey. Emma could see that she was tortured by her past. She was like a wounded animal banished to her house. It made her more vulnerable and, in some ways, more dangerous.

"I didn't lose him. He ran away," Emma tried to control the simmering irritation she felt at the accusation.

"That's considerably worse."

"I remember that he ran away from you once upon a time."

Regina stopped and Emma's arms flew out so that her palms hit against the walls of either side of the narrow staircase in order to stop herself from running straight into the brunette's back.

"Whoa!" Emma exclaimed as she tried to find her balance.

"Please refrain from using those ridiculous words around me," Regina snarled.

Emma frowned in confusion and then it clicked. She then gave a sly grin in understanding.

"Wait, the Evil Queen doesn't like fairytales?" Emma asked feigning shock.

Regina turned to Emma, their faces closer than either of them would usually be comfortable with however neither one of them would dare step back as if it would be conceding some kind of power or defeat.

"What is your intention here, Miss Swan? To goad me or find Henry?"

Emma gave a small guilty sigh and gestured for Regina to continue. The two women made it to the bottom of the stairs in silence. Emma stood in the middle of what looked like a hole in the ground filled with shelves of bottles of wine and cider.

Regina made her way to a large chest in the corner of the room which she opened. She pulled out an item wrapped in a dark blue sheet and laid it on the ground kneeling before it. She unwrapped it revealing an oval mirror with an ornate silver frame about half a metre long. Emma stood behind Regina.

"What are you gonna do with that?" Emma asked breaking their silence.

"It's going to show me where he is."

Regina held up the mirror with both hands and closed her eyes.

"Wait!" Emma said in a panic.

"What now?"

"What if it doesn't work? Or what if it does something weird? I mean, okay, you have your magic back but… it's been kinda hinky."

Regina looked back at her with a raised eyebrow, "Hinky?"

"You know what I mean."

Regina rolled her eyes, "Fine. Let's do it together."

Emma froze. Her mind flashed back to the magic she had created with Regina and the magic hat. She had acted on instinct that day- an instinct she did not understand. She had no idea where it had come from and if she could even do it again.

In the nights that she spent in a world filled with magic and far from her son in the so-called real world, she recalled the moment she had placed her hand on Regina's arm. She could see the purple smoke moving around them as though they were in the eye of a brewing tornado. The feeling was intense and overwhelming and unlike anything she had ever felt before. And if that wasn't crazy enough, it happened with Regina. It scared her.

But that was nothing in comparison to Cora trying to rip out her heart. Sometimes, in the dead of night, Emma would wake up in a cold sweat clutching at her chest convinced that she could feel the witch's fingers beneath her skin clawing at her heart.

Not too long ago, she didn't even believe in magic and now it seemed like it somehow was a part of her. It was all too much.

"Then I'll do it by myself." Regina huffed impatiently snapping Emma out of her spiralling thoughts.

Obviously, she had mistaken Emma's silence as non-compliance.

"Regina, wait!"

It was too late. The purple cloud of smoke began to swirl around them. Regina tightened her grip around the mirror and bowed her head.

"Show me Henry." Regina whispered.

Emma leaned over until she was on her tip-toes as she peered into the mirror which clouded over with the smoke. Regina looked up into the mirror. Emma wondered how long this was supposed to take.

"Show me Henry." Regina said with a little more force.

The mirror reflected nothing but the purple smoke.

"Show him to me dammit!" Regina commanded. Her knuckles turned white from how tightly she gripped the mirror. Her hands began to shake. Afraid that she would smash the mirror, Emma dropped to her knees and placed her right hand on Regina's shoulder. The brunette instantly stiffened at the touch but Emma maintained her grip. Regina's hand still shook. Emma's automatically moved on its own to cover it. The skin on the back of Regina's hand was hot to the touch. The tension in Regina's shoulders subsided.

"Show me Henry." Regina tried again considerably calmer.

Suddenly, the smoke gave way to an image of Henry asleep on a bus with his head bobbing against the window and his book of fairytales held protectively in his lap.

"There he is! Thank God he's okay. What bus is that? What bus is that, Regina?!" Emma rambled on excitedly.

"Sssh!" Regina snapped back. "Show me the bus."

The image in the mirror changed to the front of the bus with neon orange sign reading New York.

"New York? What the hell's in New York?"

"I… I don't know." Regina faltered.

Emma stood up and pulled her cell phone out of her jacket pocket. She called the bus company with a description of Henry and strict instructions to leave the boy at the sheriff's office in the next town they stopped in. The man on the other end of the line, a particularly inefficient employee named Steve, argued that Emma's demands were not their protocol. He did not know Sheriff Emma Swan.

"You listen to me you little turd. That is my son on that bus and if anything happens to him I will personally sue you and your company for everything you have and then some. Got it? Good." She ended the call.

Emma just caught the end of Regina's amused look at her tirade on the phone.

"What?" Emma asked.

"Nothing. I just didn't think you had it in you to play the bad guy with anyone but me." Regina responded looking almost impressed.

"Special circumstances." Emma shrugged.

The two women looked at each other for a moment. Emma dropped her eyes to her hand which still tingled slightly from the magic. Or was it the power that emanated from their touch? She held it up for a moment and clenched it into a fist.

"I didn't think it would work again."

"It would seem we make quite the magical combination." Regina conceded.

"That's… scary."

Regina nodded.

"I should go," Emma said feeling a little awkward in Regina's presence. She had felt many things concerning this woman but never awkward. "And don't worry, he'll be back in his bed by the end of the night."

Regina nodded again. Emma turned to leave.

"Miss Swan."

Emma stopped and turned back to Regina. She was still kneeling on the floor. Even in that position, her presence was commanding.

"Tell him…" Regina hesitated. Her face twisted in emotion in a way that Emma had never seen before. There was a hint of uncertainty. Regina Mills was never uncertain or at least she never let it show. It must have been more of that grey area. And then, just as quickly as Emma had seen it, it was gone.

"Let me know when you find him." It was a quiet order but, just this once, Emma let it slide.

"Yeah… sure"

Emma tore her eyes away from Regina's and ran up the stairs. It was time to get their son back.