Loving the enthusiasm thus far for this, so here we go with chapter 2!


For the first few days, Emma got the feeling that Regina wasn't truly convinced about having her there. She spent most of her time with Henry, watching as Regina busied herself with mundane tasks on the other side of the house. At least the weather was nice enough that she could go out into the backyard and play fetch with Henry.

Whenever she tried to approach her, Regina would move and busy herself with something else. If it was something like cooking, which she couldn't run away from and leave unattended, she would call Henry to take Emma away from the kitchen claiming that it was hazardous or something equally outlandish. Granted, Emma could imagine that an actual dog wandering about could cause chaos in the kitchen, but Regina was taking it to ridiculous heights.

Not to mention that Regina had only agreed to keep her for a few days, and if that meant that Emma was getting taken to the pet shelter after those days were up, she would be hard pressed to escape that.

When Monday arrived, Emma was nervous. Henry had been home for the entire weekend, so she'd had someone to spend time with. But when the door shut, Emma was left in the foyer, and Regina had locked herself in her study. Emma tried pawing at the door, letting out a whimper, but nothing. Then she got to thinking, surely the windows are open. Regina wasn't a firm believer in air conditioning, and with the warm September weather, Regina must've cracked open a window. So Emma bounded out of the living room window and made her way across the front yard to the study. Much to her luck, the window was open, and Emma wasted no time in jumping through.

Not so lucky was that the polished floors were a bit too slippery for her yet untrained-in-properly-braking paws, and she went skidding across the floor, only stopping as she smacked onto the side of the sofa, right by Regina's legs.

"What the-" Regina startled, looking down at her. "You really are annoyingly persistent aren't you?"

Emma's only response was to let out a small huff and sit on her haunches. Regina groaned. "Why am I even bothering to talk to you?"

Yet again, Emma couldn't respond, she merely tilted her head curiously to the side. "Oh don't give me that pitiful look. It's not like I have much of a choice on conversational partners, now do I? I'm the big bad Evil Queen who has locked herself in her home because this entire town hates her. And my mother-"

Regina tapered off, letting out a shuddering breath as she set her book to the side, and Emma felt like she had to provide some sort of comfort, so she padded her way forward and set her head down by Regina's knees, letting out a whimper.

For a brief moment, Regina accepted Emma's head resting on her legs, hand reaching out to stroke the fur on her head. But then she remembered herself and extracted her hand as if burned; she slipped her legs out from beneath Emma's head, and scooted further away. "This is ridiculous, you are a dog. Now scram!"

When Emma didn't move, Regina muttered, "Either you are the most stubborn dog known to man, or you aren't capturing a word that I'm saying. You should fear me as everyone does, not seek me out and vault through a window in your determination."

Emma wished there was a way to better express herself, one that didn't involve returning to her human form because she was sure that Regina would be even more upset if she saw that Emma was the dog and that would defeat the purpose of this plan. So she merely let out a soft whine and pawed at her pant leg. Regina looked down and sighed. "I don't suppose you quite understand what I'm trying to get across."

Regina stood up and Emma backed away a few paces, confused and wondering what was about to happen.

"You should fear me!" Regina formed two fireballs in her hand as she snarled. The fire burned bright in her palms, but Emma refused to budge. Regina was nonplussed when the dog merely sat back down on the carpet and wagged her tail.

Emma noted that the flames died out briefly in Regina's confusion, and she approached the woman before lying down on her belly, her front paws almost touching Regina's socked feet, looking up at her. The flames died out completely and Regina sat on her knees in front of her and stroked Emma's fur. "Clearly you aren't afraid."

With a soft whimper, Emma rolled onto her back, her tummy exposed. Regina got the hint and began rubbing the soft area, much to Emma's enjoyment. It was right then that Regina realized that maybe, this was exactly what she needed, someone else who didn't care that she was the Evil Queen, who just wanted to see her happy, just like Henry did.

"Alright Princess, I suppose this is your new home." Emma celebrated her victory with a happy bark, though she could do without the new name. Then again, she had said Regina could change it.

The rest of the day was spent with a much kinder Regina, even kinder than Emma herself as a human had seen her. When Henry came home, he bounded over to hug her, and Emma did her dog duties, tail wagging excitedly and barking happily. That night, after everyone had gone to sleep, Emma felt content. She was making a difference, she was helping a family, technically her own in a sense, find their happiness, and be there for them.

The next morning, Emma lounged about while Regina fussed over Henry. After she was done, she had a favour to ask him. "When you get back, could you buy some more food for Princess?"

"Yeah! Can I also buy a collar and leash for her? Make it official?" Henry asked.

Emma huffed. Honestly, couldn't Regina have picked a less obnoxious name for her? Of course not.

"Certainly, now get going, otherwise you're going to be late for school." After Henry left, Regina sighed and walked over to the living room, collapsing on the couch. Emma followed in tow, clambering up to lay beside her.

"Do you think he's okay?"

She certainly didn't understand what Regina was talking about, and she voiced her confusion with a bark. Thankfully, Regina seemed to understand. "Henry. He- I love him so much. He's the light of my life. But I'm so worried that keeping him here, and having me as a mother might endanger him. The entire town hates me, and I would never forgive myself if they took it out on him."

Emma was sure that wasn't the case. Henry had gained a healthy amount of friends since the curse had broken, but she could understand Regina's worry. So she sat up and rested her head on Regina's shoulder, nose rubbing affectionately against Regina's very ticklish hair. She felt Regina squirm a bit and let out a sound that sounded very much like a giggle - something that Emma was convinced Regina couldn't do - and she moved her shoulder. "Stop, stop, I'm ticklish!"

Regina Mills was ticklish, oh Emma was going to get a lot of mileage out of this once the charade was over. But now, she had a friend to cheer up. Emma scampered up and ran to the patio door, paws patting at the glass insistently.

"Princess, what are you doing?" Regina asked as she came up to where Emma stood on her hind legs, her front paws resting on the door. "Do you want to go out?"

Emma nodded, and Regina chuckled. "Well I have to give Emma credit on one thing, she got one obedient and smart dog. I wonder if it cost her much?"

The only cost for Emma was finding out what exactly a newt's eyeball looked like. No amount of brain bleach could erase her memory of that. Shaking her head of the memory, she moved to stand on all four legs again, and waited for Regina to open the patio door. Once it was open, Emma bounded forward and located the small toy ball Henry had stored away from his baby days, and had revived to play with her. She picked it up in her mouth, and ran back inside. She bopped her head against Regina's leg, and the brunette looked down from where she was organizing her kitchen for probably the twentieth time - according to Henry, she did that every other day - and frowned. "Henry's going to be gone for a few hours. You'll have to wait."

Emma groaned internally. She dropped the ball and used her snout to roll it forward so it stopped by her feet, clad in heels. The fancy shoes concept baffled Emma, but she learned not to question Regina's fashion choices. "Oh, you want me to play?"

Regina's confusion made Emma wonder if she'd never had the opportunity to just relax lately. So she pushed the ball closer with her nose once again, and Regina picked it up before walking outside. Emma followed in tow, an extra spring in her step. She watched as Regina reared her arm back, and threw the ball across the expansive yard.

Emma bounded forward to pick the ball, and rushed back to Regina, dropping it off onto the outstretched hand and then letting out a happy bark. Regina was smiling, and Emma felt proud to have been the cause of it.

Catch quickly turned to tag, and Regina's laugh fueled Emma like nothing had ever done before. Not even coffee and bear claws could compare, a serious statement to be made for anyone who knew Emma. The game ended when Regina's running around in circles caused her to tumble onto the ground in a fit of laughter. Emma quickly followed, rolling on the grass and then she began to give Regina's face small licks.

She stopped and froze. Since when did she want to do that? She recalled Belle's words about side effects. Maybe this was one.

Regina obviously didn't mind, and just pulled Emma towards her for a hug. "Thank you. It had been a while since I've had so much fun. Henry's also been trying, but I don't want him to have to worry about these things; then again, I suppose you don't understand, do you?"

Emma understood all too well. It was why she was doing this in the first place. But all she could do was bark as they lied on the grass, sun shining down on them, and Regina hugged her tighter. "I appreciate you listening anyway."

They spent the rest of the day in an easy companionship. Regina gave Emma a bath that consisted of Emma really loving Regina's soft and caring touch on her fur. Afterwards, the brunette read while Emma watched TV sitting beside her on the couch.

When she heard Henry arrive, she had the incredible urge to rush to the front door and greet him. She gave in to the impulse and ran there, barking happily. Why she felt that need was beyond her. She made a mental note to sneak out tonight and hunt Ruby down and see if she and Belle could investigate. But now she had to greet Henry by jumping up and resting her front paws on his shoulders.

Henry let out a peal of laughter and said, "Hey Princess!"

That got Emma to control herself once again and fall back to all fours.

"Look what I got for you, your own collar!" It was a simple red leather band with her new name on a golden circle in the middle. Henry fitted it around her neck and then stood back up, grinning. "And a leash to match. Do you want to go for a walk?"

"Don't you have a science test tomorrow, young man?" Regina asked as she came to a stand by the foot of the staircase, arms crossed and a pointed look in her face.

Henry sighed and muttered "yes," before stomping up the small set of stairs and heading to the kitchen to grab a snack before he had to get to the agonizingly boring task of studying.

Regina chuckled and brought her hand to scratch Emma's head. "Come on Princess, Henry can walk you tomorrow. You can keep me company in the kitchen as I prep dinner."

Emma's response was to patter her way to the kitchen and the jump onto a stool by the counter, beside Henry who was munching on some cookies. He grinned and extended his hand to ruffle her fur. She let herself be petted, enjoying the feeling so much.

It worried her that she was defaulting to some more animal reactions, so the minute she was sure everyone was asleep, she snuck out of the open living room window, and ran out toward the town. She briefly wondered why Regina kept her house so open but then she remembered that currently there was a force field keeping all unwanted humans out, and before that, everyone believed it was the Evil Queen's lair, and originally the Mayor's mansion. No one that valued their life would risk it by breaking in to her house.

Turning a right, she saw her destination, Granny's Bed and Breakfast. Her room was on the first floor thankfully, and the back communal patio door was always unlocked. As long as Granny wasn't feeling particularly trigger happy, she'd be able to get into her room without anyone noticing. Once she kicked her room door shut, she concentrated on transforming, and next thing she knew, she was on her hands and knees, human once more. And very naked save for the red collar that she quickly shucked off.

"Ruby wasn't kidding," Emma grumbled as she found her clothes and put them on. Then she walked through the connecting hallway and saw Ruby mopping the floor.

When she saw her, Ruby grinned. "Who let the dog out?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "Very funny. I need to talk to you about something."

"You mean you've got a bone to pick with me, right?" Ruby riposted, much to Emma's chagrin.

Still, Emma told Ruby of her little side effects, and Ruby grew serious.

"Makes sense. The more you are a dog, the more attune to you'll be to your dog-instincts and you'll act out on them. Like take me for example, there are some things that I've just become one with the wolf."

"Is 'being excessively annoying' one said thing?" Emma mutters with a smirk. Her response was a swift punch in the arm.

"I'm serious. Your sense of smell, touch, and sight will change too. Not as much as a wolf's but still pretty acute."

Emma groaned. "Can you have Belle start looking for an antidote for this? I'm not sure a lifetime of dog-like reactions is how I want to live my life."

"Yeah, not a great romance technique if you're slobbering all over Regina," Ruby agreed.


Alright, I've got one more chapter in the backlog, and hopefully by then I'll have chapter 4 ready to post soon enough!

Hope you've enjoyed this chapter's hijinks!